


Fire Agate

by DarkInuFan



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Claire is an enabler, Jewish Character, Jewish Toby, Jim and his animals (apparently), Jim's stressed, Multi, Post-Canon, Toby and his minerals, Toby fails at staying kosher, Toby just wants to be with his chosen family, are certain materials kosher or not?, because he wants Toby to be happy, catmeat's not kosher btw, he just... doesn't really care, long oneshot, merlin's potion, new jersey hearthstone, troll!Toby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:40:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21728419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkInuFan/pseuds/DarkInuFan
Summary: The more he tried to stop it, the tighter he held his best friend, the harder it became to breathe before the first tear escaped. “I’m so scared, Tobes. I love you and I don’t want to see you in pain.” He whispered, stroking the human’s hair like he would a teddy bear.“The pain will be worth it.” Toby sounded so determined as we wiped away Jim’s tears, however futile it was. “I will be with you. With Claire and Aaarrrgghh and Blinky. You won’t have to see me die in eighty years.”
Relationships: Aaarrrgghh/Blinky, Toby Domzalski/Jim Lake Jr./Claire Nuñez
Comments: 13
Kudos: 76





	Fire Agate

**Author's Note:**

> There is a distinct lack of Troll!Toby fics out there. This is my contribution to that. It turned out... so much longer than I was planning it to be. 
> 
> If anyone wants to draw anything from the fic, please do so! Just tag me on Tumblr @DarkInuFan

“Hey.”

“Hey, Tobes.” Jim returned gently, bending down to give his oldest friend a gentle, but firm hug, pressing their cheeks together and just breathing. “I’m sor-“ 

“Yeah, no, not right now.” Toby cut him off, finally returning the hug and cheek press, if a little road-weary. “It was kinda inevitable, y’know?” It took a few minutes, but eventually Toby pulled back and walked over to where Blinky and Aaarrrgghh were taking quietly, giving the four-armed troll a hug as well.

“Young Master Tobias, welcome to New Hearthstone Trollmarket. I do wish it would have been under better circumstances though. Aaarrrgghh has told me that your trip was a smooth one?” Keeping one arm looped around Toby’s smaller frame, the elder left Jim and Aaarrrgghh to the bags as he led the group to Jim’s den. 

Picking up one of the bags, Jim gave Aaarrrgghh a headbutt in greeting. Not one of their most enthusiastic displays of greeting, but this wasn’t the time for it and they would now have all the time in the world for it later. It was times like this that Jim wished that he was more a changeling in nature, so he could have gone to Arcadia to be with Toby while it happened. Yes, all of Arcadia knew about trolls now, but the funeral was still held during the daytime and they had yet to find the daywalker stone in the rubble. At least his mom and Strickler were there for him, though it wasn’t the same. 

The day that Toby found his Nana on the floor, he immediately called Dr. Lake, glad that she was home and immediately across the street. Strickler was the one that called the ambulance while Dr. L immediately got to work trying to revive her. She spent almost a week in the hospital before succumbing. Her funeral was on a Saturday. 

Toby spent nearly two months in the Lake house so that he could finish school and sell his childhood home. After that, there really wasn’t much holding him back and multiple reasons to go, so he packed what he wanted in a couple of bags and headed cross-country with Aaarrrgghh. Between there being only two of them and having the trip mapped out for them by Jim and Co., it had only taken a few weeks. Troll stamina (Krubera especially) was amazing like that. The only things that slowed them down was when Toby had to pop into a nearby town to buy more human supplies or when they had to cross open land to get to the next troll tunnel. More often than not, they would hit the end of the tunnel when the sun was out, so they would wait until nightfall by sleeping.

The fact that they had actually crossed more than half of the country with natural cave systems and troll tunnels was awesome. Sure, Toby lost whatever tan he had, but it was a good sacrifice for the time that they made. They only really stopped when Aaarrrgghh needed to rest or Toby wanted a warm meal, otherwise when Toby needed to sleep or couldn’t walk any further, he simply rode Aaarrrgghh’s back.

Unfortunately, this also led to a lot of time to think. Aaarrrgghh wasn’t much of a conversationalist in the first place (in English), but the troll did start teaching the boy basic Trollish when asked. This led to questions about troll culture and history that the boy had seen, but hadn’t had time or patience to think about while he and his friends were being actively killed. 

* * *

“There you are, Tobes, you had me worried there for a minute.” Jim came up to the cliff edge that Toby had perched on and squatted down next to his longtime friend.

“Yeah, I was just admiring the sights- woah, going a bit native there, eh, Jimbo?” While Jim had greeted Toby and Aaarrrgghh in his Trollhunter armor, he had switched out into his everyday clothes while tucking away Toby’s few possessions. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. This.” Jim gestured to his leather kilt with a small amount of embarrassment. “After tearing through five pairs of pants in as many weeks, Blinky made me try on an old kilt that some guy’s whelp had grown out of and, well…”

“Looks good on ya, Jimbo. And I see you’re rocking the fur collar too. Always wondered how far down it went.” Truth be told, Jim was more embarrassed about being shirtless than the glorified skirt. He had tried all sorts of styles before giving up. His mane (he refused to call it his scruff, though it had been abused as one on many occasions) just felt uncomfortable to deal with when it was covered up. 

“Uh… yeah, it goes pretty far, doesn’t it?” It covered most of his spine, actually, tracing down the back of his arms as well. His chest, though, was bare of any fur or markings. Toby, without a lick of embarrassment or shame, started petting his best friend, kneeling so that he could reach more. Jim, after his initial flinch of surprise, just gave his friend an unamused look and sat down completely, letting him do whatever he wanted. Touch was touch after all, and he missed Toby’s unrepentant curiosity.

“Some of your scars stayed.” Toby murmured, mostly to himself, as he traced the lichtenberg scars up one arm, across his shoulders and upper back, and down his other arm.

“Only the trollhunter ones.” Jim confirmed, tracing the nick on his cheek from Angor’s knife. At one point, he had been convinced (mostly in a drunken bet) to extend the line into a troll marking that carved his cheek in a bent angle, a matching one reflected on the other. That had been a bloody affair, finding out that his troll skin was thin and had pink human flesh immediately underneath. Blinky was torn between theories that he just had whelp-thin skin or it was a result of his half-breed status. Only time would tell, but they would wait a few more decades before he got the rest of his adult markings.

“So that one from that time when you broke your leg? Or nearly cutting your thumb off peeling a potato?”

“Nope and nope.” He wiggled said thumb in Toby’s direction, showing off unblemished stone. 

“Huh.” Toby acknowledged, digging his fingers deep into Jim’s scruff, making him go limp. “So… I was thinking…” he led on, fully leaning against Jim’s back and wrapping his arms around the taller boy’s shoulders. “No, never mind. Where’s Claire, I thought she would be part of the welcoming committee?”

Jim scoffed, glaring off into the void. “She wanted to be. Merlin, the dick, just up and decided to drag her along with him a few days ago. Ingredient gathering for a potion is all I got from them. I haven’t heard a word since.” He waved around his phone before putting it back into his pocket. 

“Weird. I was wondering why the radio silence. Cause I didn’t think I did something to piss her off. Thought it was you.”

“Oh, ha ha.” Jim rolled a bit, catching Toby off guard as he pulled the smaller male into his lap for a snuggle-slash-wrestle. Jim gave a very light headbutt and grinned. “No, Claire really was looking forward to the three of us being together again. Then Merlin said something to her and she got that look in her eye and off they went. I was hoping that they would have been back by now.”

“I thought that Claire didn’t like going on trips with Merlin. Too many ‘creepy perv’ vibes.”

“That’s what she always says, but he must have said something that got to her this time. I don’t really like it.”

“I don’t really either. You should have gone with them.”

“And miss you arriving?” Jim replied immediately, before sighing. “Yeah, ok, I would have, but Claire told me to wait for you and that she’d be fine. She can take care of herself and I trust her judgement.”

“Yeah, she can and we do. Merlin is the skeezy one though.”

“True that.” Jim laughed a little, in complete agreement.

“Speaking of Merlin…” Toby took a steadying breath, carefully not looking at Jim. “Think he’d be willing to turn me into a troll?” His volume faded as his confidence waned.

“...What…?” Jim breathed, going absolutely still.

“Well, I mean, it’s not like the human world has anything left for me. My parents are gone, I graduated high school and Nana… passed on too. She was no spring chicken and her heart has been giving her issues for a few years now. And then there’s you and Claire, Wingman and Blinky. Eli and Steve pretty much have Arcadia covered these days and I just…” Toby faded out with a helpless shrug. 

“And Darcy?” 

“What about Darcy? We still talk. Kinda. But things got a little too much after a while and she got a new boyfriend that went to the Academy instead.”

“I’m sor-“

“Don’t be. I’m surprised that we stayed together as long as we did. I liked the idea of Darcy more and I was more of a pity boyfriend for Claire’s sake.”

“Ouch.” Jim winced, tightening his arms around Toby for a moment. “That sucks, Tobes.” 

“Yeah, like I said, too much. I was always happier as the third wheel to you and Claire anyway.”

“We’ll have to talk when Claire gets back, then. Tricycles are always a bit more balanced than bikes anyway.” 

“Mm…” Toby didn’t know how to take that, or more like he didn’t want to take it the wrong way and get hurt, so let the noise of New Trollmarket sweep over them. It’s not like he hadn’t thought about it before. He and Claire got along like a house on fire, especially after the whole Darklands incident where they had covered Jim’s ass for over two weeks. But he backed off when he was asked to. It hurt, yes, to stay in Arcadia, but he understood. He just wished that he had it in himself to be selfish and insist on going. But that was then, and this is now. 

“If Merlin says yes…” Toby started after a few moments reflection. “What do you think I would look like?”

“Hn?” Jim shook himself out of whatever reverie he was in before taking a good, solid look at the shorter human. “Hmm… a Wumpa. But orange.”

“Hey, are you still going on about that? I have  _ grown _ , you freakishly tall person.” Toby turned around, sitting up on his knees, but still only hit Jim’s nose.

“I know. But you did ask.” Jim gave a soft smile, keeping his arms loosely wrapped around the shorter’s waist and pressed their foreheads together. In fact, it had surprised Jim, seeing his friend in person after nearly two years. Toby had always told Jim that a late-puberty growth spurt ran in his family, but to see it in person? Startling. 

Jim, on the other hand, had continued to grow as well. Not as dramatically as Toby, but he had added on an inch or two. And if Blinky was to be believed, he had another six to go, at least. “You do know, if you decide to go through with it, and if Merlin says yes, all that work on your teeth will be for naught.”

Toby sighed dramatically, pulling back to look at Jim properly and flicked his tongue over his brace-free teeth. They hadn’t been technically done, but without his own insurance after Nana’s death, sacrifices had been made. “Yeah, I thought about that. But,” He shrugged, “if that’s the only price I have to pay, it’ll still be worth it to be with you.”

With his own sigh, Jim gave Toby another hug, tucking him beneath his chin before standing up. “Come on, then. Let’s get you something to eat. Claire, for some reason, doesn’t appreciate my experimentation with troll/human food near as much as I think you would.”

“Oh, did you figure out your steak issue?” Toby perked up, trotting along behind Jim’s longer strides.

“I think so. But I was thinking fish for tonight. I made ceviche earlier when I heard how close you were.”

“Nice. With jalapeños?” 

“Of course.”

* * *

“Hey Jim, it’s just me.” Claire murmured, using the dim light of her phone to help her crawl into the nest. “Did TP make it in yet?” Nodding, Jim curled around the lump next to him and held a hand out to invite Claire to join. 

“A couple hours ago.” Jim muttered back, his free hand returning back to stroking the shock of auburn hair under his chin. “We’ll all need to talk in the morning.”

“Ok.” Claire nodded and yawned, burrowing down in the blankets and pressing herself against Toby’s back, tangling her own hand with Jim’s free one. “Missed you.”

“Missed you too.” Jim pressed a closed-mouth kiss to her knuckles before settling back down. “Sleep now, talk later.” Claire just hummed, already half asleep.

* * *

Waking up the next morning, it took a few minutes to remember that Toby really was sharing the nest with him and Claire, and it wasn’t just wishful thinking. Careful not to disturb the two, Jim carefully extracted himself from between the humans and the back wall of his nest room. Taking a moment, he smiled softly, just watching the two breathe, wrapped in various furs and blankets that had become his nest.

With two humans in his den now, he was glad that Claire had gone shopping before leaving on her trip with Merlin. Deciding to go traditional, Jim started pulling out ingredients for a pair of omelettes, only to be startled by a familiar mason jar filled with black potion already sitting innocently on the island counter. “Alright.” Jim carefully moved the nightmare jar into a corner where he wouldn’t have to look at it. “I guess that answers  _ that  _ question then.” 

Up until then, the question had been completely theoretical. He hadn’t really taken it seriously because why? What would ever be a good enough reason to give up your humanity, the  _ sun _ , in anything less than the life-or-death situation that Merlin had forced his hand by. Then again, he could almost understand. He would do anything to see his mom under the light of the sun again, to be able to relate to Toby and Claire on that intimate level that being human allowed. 

Cracking the eggs, he absently ate the shells as he whisked them into a light foam and waited for the fire stones to heat properly. But as a troll, he had Blinky, Nomura and the rest of the market, as well as having Aaarrrgghh back. At one point, Merlin had explained that since Morgana’s possession, Claire had an extended lifespan also. So that left Toby and his mother untouched. Or practically so, in the case of his mom. And his mom was her own person, depending on how her relationship with Strickler went, he may end up tying their life forces together again. Now, that was a thought that he didn’t want to think too hard on. 

Toby, though… yeah, he could see where Merlin’s potion was looking more like a viable option if they wanted to keep their little family together. Just because he understood, didn’t mean he agreed or was happy about it. They would have to talk to Blinky about this.

Speaking of, his ear twitched, picking up two pairs of footsteps, one heavy and the other familiar as his own. “Morning Blink, Aaarrrgghh, didn’t think we would see you guys for at least a few more hours.” Jim greeted, cutting onions, peppers and mushrooms for the omelette, popping a mushroom in his mouth as he went. Thankfully, it was a human thing that he could still eat without problems. “Claire and Tobes are still asleep.” 

“Then you have time to break your own fast with us, Master Jim.” Blinky pressed his forehead to Jim’s, his upper hands holding the boy’s arms while the lower held a sizable stew pot. He murmured a trollish good morning before putting the pot down and going to fish around for bowls. 

Stuttering out a return greeting, Jim moved toward Aaarrrgghh to greet him as well. Blinky, when he could, was slowly teaching Jim trollish. He definitely understood it better than he spoke it. Aaarrrgghh gave him a large grin and patted his head, before pressing their heads together and pronounced the greeting clearly, letting him hear the syllable he missed. “ _ Very good _ ,” He continued in trollish, “ _ Blinky mumbles when distracted and makes it difficult to understand _ .”

“ _ I do not! _ ” Blinky protested, still in trollish, much to Jim’s amusement, dramatically setting down the stack of bowls he found.

“ _ You do _ .” Aaarrrgghh replied simply before switching back to English. “Jim doing good. Languages hard.” 

_ “Can practice? _ ” Jim asked in trollish, earning another grin from the Krubera as he sat down and accepted the mixing bowl of stew that Blinky handed him.

“ _ Only until the humans are awake. _ ” Blinky pointedly put a bowl of stew by Jim’s elbow. He knew it was impossible to pull him away when he was in the middle of cooking.

“ _ Claire good troll talk. Tobes…” _ Jim stopped, both at a loss of words and knowing how far he had gotten.

“ _ Claire speaks trollish well. Wingman can speak simple sentences like you. _ ” Aaarrrgghh was careful to speak clearly and patiently before taking a bite of soup. It tasted like Bagdwella’s specialty and home.

“... _ like me _ ” Jim repeated the sentences, stirring the mushrooms before adding the other two veggies to brown.  _ “Let them decide English or Trollish. Day plans? _ ”

“ _ Many things, Master Jim, including a few concerning things that Aaarrrgghh has brought to my attention concerning- _ “

“ _ Slow down Blinky, you lost the whelp. _ ” Aaarrrgghh interrupted, gesturing with one hand when he noticed Jim’s eyes starting to glaze over. 

_ “And this is why you should take over the lessons, my friend. You have the patience I sadly lack in this situation.”  _

_ “Blinky’s mouth is always trying to keep up with his mind. _ ” Aaarrrgghh grinned, sipping from his bowl. Jim, in response, slowly grinned as he realized that Aaarrrgghh had made a joke at his mate’s expense, judging from Blinky’s over the top huffing into his own bowl.  _ “Did wingman bring up talking to Merlin last night?” _

_ “Yes.” _ Jim bit down a growl and gestured sharply with his spatula toward the jar. “ _ Tobes be happy.” _

_ “And you are not?” _

Jim pulled on his horn with a small whine before remembering himself and letting go. “ _ Hurt Jim. No want Tobes hurt.”  _

“ _ Ah, we may want English for this, young Master Jim _ .” Blinky spoke delicately. “You have never spoken on what happened at that time.” 

Biting down another small whine, Jim focused on finishing the omelette filling before scooping it into a waiting bowl. Finally taking the bowl of stew, he stepped around the cooking island and leaned against it. “It hurt.” He spoke softly, “between nearly drowning and stepping between the worlds, just to come up in the river. Everything hurt, being remade from the base up. The worst part, though, was waking up alone and knowing that if I didn’t make it home myself, nobody would find me. Nobody would know what happened. And the instincts. Merlin said that I would still be half human. I’m not. What’s left of my humanity are all raw edges and the wounds left catch on the  _ weirdest  _ things. And I don’t want Tobes to suffer like I did.”

“You sound as if you don’t want Tobias to go through what you did.”

“I want him to know what he’s signing up for. He-he has a choice. I didn’t. And he does these things all the time, too.”

“The true sign of a leader is not the ability to lead, Master Jim, but the willingness of those to follow you. Tobias is as loyal as I have ever seen, as I dare say fair Claire is as well. The difference between you and him, is that Tobias will not be alone on his journey, since you have forged the way already.” 

“So you think we should let him go through this?”

“Goodness gracious, no, there is no ‘letting’ something like this happen. There is informed decision making and supporting the end result, whatever that may be. Tobias is, after all, his own person. He has the will, and the ability. There is nothing stopping him now except for his own mind.” 

“Wingman wants to be with family.” Aaarrrgghh lifted his arm, ushering the shorter human to sit on his lap from where he had been leaning against the den’s doorway for the past minute or so, unnoticed by the blue trolls.

Yawning, Toby thumped his head against Aaarrrgghh’s chest in greeting and fished a bite from the larger troll’s bowl. “ _ Morning. _ ” He mumbled in trollish, still looking half-asleep. “ _ Talk about me? _ ” He may have looked tired, but his eyes were sharp.

“Morning Tobes. Breakfast? I’m making omelettes.” Jim deflected badly, standing up and going to pour the eggs before Toby responded. 

“Mmm, omelettes. Man, I’m gonna miss those.” Jim stiffened before smoothly going back to spreading out the filling.

“It’s going to hurt, Tobes.” Jim protested weakly, knowing that he had no leg to stand on. 

“I know. We were there when you collapsed, remember?”

“Not really, no.” Jim gave a wry grin, “I know you were all there when I woke up for the second time though.” 

“Yeah, that was our bad. We thought you’d pop up in the tub again, that’s why we didn’t drain it.” 

“No, I ended up where one of the local ley lines crossed with the river about, ah, five miles away? Something like that. It was a hike. I think I laid there for a good hour before then, though.” Plating up the omelette, he handed it over, as well as one of Claire’s forks. “And that was before I realized that sunlight is bad… so there was that. I don’t think that I would have been able to make it home if I had tried to walk back immediately. That instinct is surprisingly strong.”

“For good reason, Master Jim. Despite your repeated efforts to ignore it.” It was something else to be given disappointed dad eyes from three pairs instead of one. “I have now memorized the sunstain relief recipe because of you, young man. And you,” He turned his eyes to Toby, “should know better than to do the same, should you pursue this route.” 

Blinking at the elder troll, Toby ducked his head, not expecting the preemptive scolding, “Yes, Blinky.” 

“Then I would, if this is your final decision, take your last days in the sun and enjoy them with Fair Claire when she awakens. In the meanwhile, James! Eat!” He pushed the bowl into the youngling’s hands before he could come up with an excuse like needing to wash the dishes.

“Seriously, Jimbo, I thought you were getting better about that.” Toby gestured with his fork towards the barely eaten bowl of stew, Jim was looking at it like he would rather be anywhere else. “You have to eat or you’ll collapse again.” 

“I thought it was a new development, what with his drastic change of diet?” 

“Nope. Jimbo’s always had issues eating.”

“Tobes!”

“He just kept it away from Dr. L because it would make her worry.”

“And rightly so. You are a growing child, human or troll, and improper nutrition can, and will, stunt your growth.”

“I do eat!” Jim protested, putting his bowl down to argue, only to get a fork and two fingers gesturing for him to pick it up again.

“A slice of dry toast isn’t breakfast, it’s a snack!” 

“But I did eat, at least.” He muttered, idly swirling his bowl before taking a sip.

“At least you had that.” Toby had to give him with a sigh. “And if they didn’t bring you breakfast this morning?”

“I…” He was caught, he had no excuse. Four eggshells was nothing. “I’m not really that hungry. I would have been fine.”

“I beg to differ, James.” He cringed. It was bad when Blinky dropped the ‘master’ part of his name. “While an adult troll does indeed need to eat and sleep less frequently than a human, you. Are. Not. And will not be fully adult for some years to come. I do admit that I was remiss in my duties as your father while we were traveling and gave you ample opportunities to skip meals then, but we are once again a well established market and I will keep as close an eye on your dietary habits as you need me to. Do not challenge me in this, you will lose. And the entirety of Trollmarket will back me up as well.”

“Takes a village.” Aaarrrgghh agreed, having long finished his bowl, save a few bites he knew Toby enjoyed placed on the boy’s plate. 

“Indeed it does. In fact, I should go inform Bagdwella your eating issue is far beyond a change in taste.”

“Please don’t!” Jim whined when Blinky turned to do just that. The trolless had taken a shine to Jim sometime between their introduction and starting on their journey cross country, keeping an eye on him when Blinky was busy with his elder duties. She could be a bit… overbearing at times. She always seemed to have a snack or something on hand or nearby for Jim to try, in an effort to suss out his trollish favorites. And if she knew he was skipping meals, she would be even worse. 

Blinky’s response was a raised brow and staring pointedly at the bowl. “I am still going to inform Bagdwella either way, but if you finish your meals to  _ our  _ satisfaction, I may not tell her that you are well on your way to attempting to  _ starve yourself _ .”

“I’m not starving myself.” Jim murmured into his bowl, finishing it as fast as he could, earning unimpressed looks all around. “Hey, Tobes, you wanna see the new forge?” 

“Awesomesauce!” Toby enthused, backing down when he saw Blinky’s still not impressed look. “I mean, yeah, we can do that… later. I mean, it’s not really going anywhere any time soon, is it?” 

“The forge can wait a few minutes so you do not make yourself sick, Master Jim. Much like that human phrase about not swimming immediately after eating.” Jim got the idea that he would be on thin ice for quite a while. He didn’t have an eating issue. It's just he didn’t feel like eating much. Sure, he adored when others ate what he cooked, but eating himself was more of a chore- especially so since his transformation. Things just didn’t taste  _ right  _ anymore. 

“...Right.” collecting the dishes, he checked Bagdwella’s stewpot and washed that as well. He also made Claire’s omelette and tucked it into their small refrigerator with a note that said where they would be when she woke up. With how late Claire had gotten in, she would be asleep until at least noon, so they would have plenty of time before she joined in. 

* * *

By the time Claire woke up, the rest of the nest had long gone cold. She took a look at her phone and smiled wryly. Two o’clock. Living underground in Trollmarket had definitely screwed with her internal clock. Her parents would be horrified that she had slept the morning away, but it was normal. There would be times where she and Jim slept at completely different times, so this was normal. Stretching with a yawn, she absently fluffed her already messy hair before walking out to the main area of the den… of which a good portion was dedicated to Jim’s cooking hobby. A sticky note on the fridge indicated that he had left her breakfast before heading out for the day.

Pulling the omelette out of the fridge and reheating it on the warming stones, she took her time reading the note that was left on the counter. Including an itinerary from Blinky, it mostly said that they had seen the potion she had left on the counter last night and would likely be in the forge. It said nothing about what Toby’s thoughts were on said potion though. She hoped that TP wouldn’t take it as an insult, but when Merlin had brought up the possibility, she couldn’t say no. Even if Toby said no, she could use it. And she had been careful to write down the recipe, so the possibility was always open for the future. They would have to decide soon though, apparently the potion only had a shelf life of about 48 hours before it curdled and it had already been… 12. Claire cringed, apparently she needed the extra sleep after not sleeping very much for the past three days while they gathered ingredients. 

Making her way over to the forge, she couldn’t help but to smile. Blinky had been called away some time between retrieving Jim and when Claire had woken up, so Aaarrrgghh was the one supervising the boys in the forge, and apparently had been there a while. Either their sparring had devolved into playful wrestling, or they hadn’t even bothered with any formal practice, since they were both on the floor, Jim playfully pinning Toby and the shorter was struggling to toss him off. 

“Hey, Aaarrrgghh, welcome home.” Claire murmured, sidling up to the taller troll and leaning against his arm.

“Same. Missed Claire.” He smiled and gathered her up, patting her hair gently. “Busy with Merlin and potion.” 

“Yeah, you saw the potion then. When he offered to teach it to me…” Claire shrugged helplessly. It wasn’t like she could say no to an opportunity like that.

“Understand.” Aaarrrgghh murmured, bumping her with his nose and re-memorizing her scent. “Wingman was going to ask. He happy now.” 

“CLAIRE BEAR!!!” came a screech from across the forge, making Claire’s head snap up. Chuckling at the youth barreling toward them, Aaarrrgghh gently propped Claire up, making sure neither human fell over during Toby’s flying tackle-glomp.

“TP!” Toby accidently greeted her with a trollish gesture before backing up with a blush. Claire wouldn’t let go, though, and did even better by returning the trollish gesture by pressing their foreheads together with a grin. “Welcome home.” she bussed his cheek before pulling back to get a good look at him. “...damnit, you’re taller than me now. When the hell did this happen?”

“...about the time that you started cussing…?” Toby replied, amused by both his new height and Claire’s language.

Laughing, she pulled him down the few inches to buss his other cheek. “Sorry for not being there when you got in yesterday.”

“No, it's cool. You were working on that potion. I was actually going to ask Merlin about it when I got the chance to anyway, so thank you.” Toby, in that moment, was the sun. He radiated happy energy.

“I’m glad that you’re happy.” She absently swung their clasped hands while Jim walked up and looped his arms around them both, bussing Claire’s cheek in greeting. “But, hey, just to let you know, that stuff has about a 48 hour shelf life before it gets all gross and stops working. I can always make more, but I just want to get that out there.”

“Then let's go. I thought about it long enough, I’ve been thinking about it since forever, and I want to do it.” Toby moved to pull the other two back to the cave, either not seeing or ignoring Jim’s grimace as he held his ground.

“It means that you have 24 hours to be human before you go through with it.” Jim spoke up, using his strength to carefully hold Toby back. “Actually, how long does Tobes have, Claire?”

“The day after tomorrow about… two-ish in the morning. I would say midnight, just to be safe.” 

“Right.” Jim’s lips thinned, looking between the two, “let's say tomorrow then, around sunset. It’ll give you enough time to change your mind without risking the integrity of the potion.” He wasn’t happy about it, but it was Toby’s decision and he wasn’t blind to the human’s joy at the thought. “In the meanwhile, Claire, why don’t you make it a date day tomorrow? Take Tobes around town and show him the sites. Take him out to dinner tonight and just go have fun.” 

“And what will you be doing, mister? Kicking us out of the den already?” Claire jested, her teasing falling flat in the face of Jim’s pensive look.

“Getting ready, mostly.” Jim leaned down and definitely didn’t whine when he pressed his forehead to Toby’s crown. “The only reason I was up as soon as I was after my change was adrenaline and the upcoming battle. You remember when I finally crashed.”

“Yeah, that was frightening.” Claire agreed. Between Jim’s injuries, the adrenaline of battle and his transformation, by the time he finally calmed down enough for his armor to deactivate, he crashed hard. He passed out for at least a whole day, before sleeping for almost four more. It was a good thing that the trolls had found a well-defendable cave system by that time, or they would have had to find a way to transport the unconscious half-troll. Most of the trolls able to carry Jim were either already too burdened down, or would have been unwilling to carry him in the first place. 

“But tonight,” Jim stood up straight, giving Toby’s shoulder a light squeeze, “Let's have a little fun. We didn’t get to far in that tour of New Trollmarket, did we?” 

* * *

He agreed to lay down with the humans, for a while, at least. Once he heard steady breathing from the two of them, Jim sat up carefully and studied his best friend’s face. They had been friends for over a decade, the two of them against the world and practically brothers. Then Merlin’s amulet and trolls and just… the world. Fate. Destiny. Whatever, it didn’t really matter. Toby really did get that wish for adventure answered, and this was only the beginning, apparently. 

Toby’s face was one that he had known better than his own, and he wouldn’t see it again. At least, not in the same way. He once again tried to imagine Toby with trollish features, seriously this time. Would he have a troll nose, or a more humanoid one like he and some changelings retained? Would he have one or two pairs of horns? A crown? And there was a real possibility of Toby growing larger than Jim. He quirked a smile, growing two feet and he was still small compared to most trolls’ bulk. It was a real possibility. He imagined for a moment, Toby as a Krubera. With most Krubera bare of any and all hair, Toby would cry. He just wouldn’t be one of those lucky few that had fur like Aaarrrgghh. One thing he was certain of, was that Toby would be a warm color stone. Red, orange or yellow always seemed to fit his sunny personality the best. He would know exactly the stone, as well, probably telling Jim and the rest of their small family every fact he could think of in the meanwhile. 

And Claire, how long would it take her to join them? As they walked aimlessly around Trollmarket, just the way they talked made it so obvious. She never said it outright, but a human sorceress was not going to be her chosen path for long. His only hope was that she would wait. Jim brushed hair out of Claire’s face as she snuggled with Toby. She still had her family, and an already extended lifespan. He hoped that she would at least wait until Javier and Ophelia had passed, or at least accepted that Claire’s life was underground. Wait until Enrique was old enough to understand and she could still take him outside during the daylight hours when she visited home. 

With or without the change, they were all still children. Children responsible for a key hub of all troll society that they had already failed once. Near-immortality had ways of slowing down the intensity of some human emotions, while intensifying others. While he loved Claire just as fiercely, he no longer had the urge, the rush, to up their relationship to the next level. While it was common for humans their age to start to get into serious relationships and start families, he was satisfied with the thought of taking the next ten, twenty, years before even starting to seriously contemplate settling down. One thing was for sure, if, when, they finally decided to have children (Half or full troll), the likelihood of any of their human parents seeing was nearly non-existent. 

Shaking the thoughts away, Jim carefully crawled the rest of the way out of their nest and went to find Blinky. No doubt Aaarrrgghh had updated him on what Toby had decided, but he still wanted and needed to talk to his father about this.

Eventually, he found Blinky in the one place where it should have been most obvious: his library. “Hey, Blinky.” Jim announced himself with a shy smile, only loud enough to pull the troll out from his reading if he wasn’t too deep in his books. It was a rare pleasure to be surrounded by his tomes and left at peace from the other trolls, he didn’t want to disturb that.

“Master Jim.” Blinky responded warmly, opening two of his arms for a hug while he finished the sentence he was on. “Am I to assume this is about Tobias’ decision?” Jim walked into his father’s arms and pressed most of his weight into the elder troll with a small whine. 

“We’re doing it tomorrow after sunset. I already asked Bagdwella for some rations for when Tobes wakes up.” He had actually run across her first, asking to talk to her in private. As horrible of a gossip as she was, she knew to keep quiet for a few days if given a good enough reason. Bumping her chin intentionally like the troll child he was, he asked if she could get together a variety of favorites for Toby to try when he woke up from the transformation. Bagdwella, being the affectionate mother-troll that she was, gave Jim a breath-stealing hug and told him not to worry his pretty little head about it and that she would happily stock his kitchen  _ as long as Jim ate as well.  _ He was reluctant, but agreed to her terms. Toby would say the same thing as soon as he caught on anyway. 

“Good, good. Now, do you think you need anything else?” 

Jim sucked on a tusk, he had just expanded his nest right before Toby and Aaarrrgghh showed up in anticipation, but… “blankets? Some more comfortable things?” 

Blinky gave Jim an affectionate look. He had explained it to the youngling before, but he always got so embarrassed about this certain instinct. Between being in love, and being at that mental age where a whelp was gaining independence, both tended to lean towards certain… hoarding tendencies. It was adorable, frankly, and he was willing to indulge in Jim’s instincts for as long as it was reasonable. “Of course. I will ask around if there are any new soft things in the market, but may I also suggest asking Tobias and fair Claire to buy some things to add to the nest as well while they are on the town tomorrow?” 

“Uh, yeah.” He… honestly hadn’t thought of that. On one hand it stung that he couldn’t supply everything for his (potential!) mates, but on the other it satisfied something else to think that they could make the nest actually theirs and not just Jim’s creation. A sense of reciprocation that he hadn’t known he needed until Blinky mentioned it. 

“Now, since you are the expert on the situation, what will we need to make young Tobias comfortable during his actual change? What supplies do we need for the ritual?”

“For the ritual itself… it’s not really much of one, really.” Jim shrugged, forcefully trying to pull himself away from flashbacks. “The potion needs to be poured in enough water to fully submerge yourself into, like a tub or a small pool.”

Blinky nodded, “From what I was told, the water ran clear after you disappeared, so we could do it in the hot springs without tainting the water supply.”

Jim shook his head. “We could, but an enclosed container might be better. I don’t know if it was because of the ley line crossing the river, or that by draining the tub I was forced downstream. If it's the second thing, I don’t want Toby trapped somewhere in an underground stream.” He shuddered. “And Claire keeps saying that most of the springs are too hot for her, so they would be too hot for Toby as well.”

Blinky nodded, thinking over the various things that he had seen around the market and coming up with a blank. “Short of talking to Glug about borrowing her tub, I cannot think of any tubs that could be used, per se, but we do have nearly a day to find something, Master Jim. I’m sure that we will think of something. In the meanwhile, I do believe that there is a room off the springs that was going to become a cooling pool that never was finished. It is an idea.”

It was. He didn’t really want the potion so close to their main water supply, but it was looking more like the only valid option available. He knew the room that Blinky was talking about too. While Claire mostly cleaned up using a washing bowl when she was underground, she did maintain an apartment where she took normal showers between new Trollmarket and her part time job and college classes, so the bathing pool had mostly been abandoned as too much work for one human’s comfort. They were still building critical structures, so plumbing would come… eventually, for those who actually wanted it- like the pub and certain select private dens. “I’ll work on making that deep enough just in case you can’t find anything. Do you think you can keep an eye out on something for Tobes to wear as well?”

“That may have to wait, Master Jim” Blinky gave a wry look at his son’s own kilt. “We have no way to predict what size or style Tobias will need, or if he will even wish for anything. He does seem more comfortable about certain trollish aspects that even you are after two years of living as one of us.” 

“Uh, yeah…” Jim scratched his cheek in embarrassment, his nail catching on his marking. Blinky wearing pants was a bit of an eccentric oddity in troll culture. Most male trolls wore kilts of varying lengths, from the glorified belts of warriors to the knee-length ones of more domestic workers. There were some, like Aaarrrgghh, that forewent clothes completely out of personal choice and nobody blinked twice. 

Being forced to actually think of the ritual that Toby would be going through in less than a day, made Jim think about things that would have made his own change easier. Case in point: reforming back in that river and having practically no idea where he was. “...Do you think Toby still has that chubby tracker?” 

“...Excuse me?” Blinky blinked at the non-sequitur.

“His chubby tracker. That wristwatch that he had with GPS. Because I think a tracking spell might interfere with the potion somehow. We can wrap it so it becomes waterproof and we would be able to find where he pops up.” While caves normally blocked cell signals, they had found that the hearthstones acted as a natural amplifier, allowing Jim and the others to use their phones while still underground. While it was a general rule that magic and technology did not get along, it was really just a misunderstanding where one just had to be regulated and insulated against the other for it to work. Too much magic and technology just went ‘pop’ and died, too much technology and magic didn’t take hold properly. Sometime in the past century, while technology started to flourish, someone- troll or incognito changeling- had discovered that a simple rune sequence was all that was needed to make things run smoothly. Magic-proofing their phones had consisted of sticking a piece of tape with the rune sequence written on it under the battery. A 30-second solution to a century-long problem. Toby’s chubby tracker had the rune sequence written in permanent marker on the inside of the wristband, last time Jim checked. 

“An ingenious solution, Master Jim.”

“Do you think it would work?”

“It's better than not trying. You are right though, there is a good chance that a tracking spell would fail in the face of the potion’s effects. From what I understand from what you told us, the potion creates a portal and portals are infamous for disrupting tracking spells, whether the potion would interfere first, the portal definitely would. GPS is enough of an unknown that I am not fully aware if it would work or not. In the portal itself, it definitely would not work, but after, I do not know.” 

This entire time, Blinky had kept at least one hand on Jim and could feel the youngling flagging. “Now, have we addressed all your worries, or do we need to keep talking?”

“I need to go start getting ready.” Jim objected, trying to pull away. One hand became two as Blinky drew the boy closer. 

“That is what tomorrow will be for. It will give you something to do instead of fretting the day away while Tobias and Claire are on their date. In the meanwhile, you need your rest as well, Master Jim. Come, sit by me for a while while I read. If you wish to move in a few hours, you can, but let us enjoy the peace while we can, ok?” Because, eventually, someone would come and need one of their opinions on something ultimately trivial. 

It took some steady pressure, but eventually Jim crouched comfortably by Blinky’s chair while the elder troll started reading out loud in trollish in his smooth, rumbling voice. 

Between one blink and the next, he found his head laying on Blinky’s lap and shifted from his crouch to sitting on the stone floor of the library. He felt gentle petting over his hair and horns and heard the gentle rumbling of Blinky’s voice. A second, deeper, trollish voice responded. That was what had woken him up. The voice was gentle and familiar though, so he kept his eyes closed and resettled on Blinky’s lap.

A gentle chuckle vibrated his cheek and a huge hand practically engulfed his back and rubbed circles, the thumb scratching his scruff. After a few minutes, he was lifted up and cradled, embraced into the realm of sleep. 

“ _ I do believe he was stressed by the thought of Tobias’ upcoming change.”  _ Blinky murmured, watching Aaarrrgghh settle into the nest with their blue son snuggled close. It was a close one, when Aaarrrgghh entered, they had thought that the boy would awaken. 

“ _ Yes. Wingman’s enthusiasm and Jim’s pessimism balance each other out.”  _ Aaarrrgghh kept steady pressure on Jim’s back, a trick he had learned to keep whelps asleep longer. “ _ And you?” _

_ “Concerned, mostly. Not surprised in the least, for where one goes, the other two will inevitably follow. You?” _

_ “Wingman will be a wonderful troll, has been a wonderful troll. He will be a good influence for Jim accepting his nature.”  _ Even the short time joining them in this new Trollmarket, he could see Jim still resisting parts of his troll instincts and hurting himself because of it. Even being Hulder or Jotunn based as he was, Jim was worryingly thin. He had talked about raw edges catching, and that worried him. And if Toby wasn’t enough, he knew that Claire would help as well. She was still very human, but she had integrated trollish habits and duality into her everyday being very smoothly.  _ “How long until two will become three?” _ Aaarrrgghh asked with a smirk.

_ “Claire has expressed wishes to finish her college courses first, but she has also informed me that she can do them just as well on the computer. Also, as you know, she visits her family occasionally. It will be easier when the Gyre is built, whenever that will be, but until then it would be easier as a human to take an airplane. So… anywhere between two months and two decades, my friend. There is no rush.” _

Aaarrrgghh nodded in agreement, settling down into the nest and smelling the blankets. Some were obviously very new, but at least one also held the scent of Jim’s den. He didn’t know when, but Blinky obviously had been doing a quiet blanket exchange between the two nests when the whelps hadn’t been looking. He didn’t smell NotEnrique, but that didn’t surprise him. Disappointed, yes, that the young changeling still didn’t let himself be included into their makeshift clan, but not surprised. 

_ “Where is NotEnrique? Or Nomura, for that matter?”  _ Blinky winced, picking up a book and putting it back down. 

“They…  _ NotEnrique stays at Claire’s apartment most days. Nomura, she, once we settled, decided to craft a new glamour mask and settle somewhere up above. She comes down occasionally and spends the day, but has never set up her own den as far as I am aware. We will likely see the Imp tonight since they will inevitably go to Claire’s apartment. And I have yet to see NotEnrique miss out on the chance of a party.”  _

_ “He does throw the best parties. Him and Glug.”  _ Aaarrrgghh rumbled out a laugh, remembering the party NotEnrique had thrown at Claire’s house without her consent. He hadn’t cared at the time because he was dying, but it was a stupid thing to do, thinking about it now. 

“Shhh… _ sleep now.” _ Jim murmured, digging his nose further in the space between Aaarrrgghh and the blankets. In response, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh shared a fond look before the bigger started rubbing Jim’s back and making a low rumble deep in his chest. 

“ _ Formal lessons for the whelps?”  _ Aaarrrgghh asked simply.

“ _ I do believe it is time for them now, yes. Especially since you are here and have the time and patience to do so. Just the three, or should we extend the lessons to other whelps in the market?” _

_ "The three for now. We will see if other whelps will be a good idea or not in the future.”  _ Blinky hummed in agreement, picking up the book he had been reading out of earlier and settled next to Aaarrrgghh in the nest, happening to pin Jim’s legs down between himself and Aaarrrgghh’s bulk. Holding the book up in question, Aaarrrgghh nodded and closed his eyes, listening to his mate’s voice 

* * *

“Um…” 

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Blinky felt the nest shift slightly and opened two of his eyes, meeting the grinning face of Toby. “ _ Morning _ .” He said simply, giving the half-asleep troll a headbutt to the chin. 

“Tobias…?” 

“Mmm.” The boy responded, carefully crawling around the elder troll and onto the younger- who didn’t even flinch. “Jimbo~” He sang softly, taking a single finger and stroking a place on Jim’s neck, making him turtle and squeak. “Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey.” He kept stroking the spot with a grin, deftly avoiding sleepy flailing. 

“Wha- Tobes? The hell?” Jim rolled onto his back, absently hugging Toby to his chest, who propped his chin on said chest to grin up at his friend. 

“Thought you should know that Claire-bear and I are heading out. Want us to get you anything?” With a deep groan, Jim flipped both of them over, now laying on top of the human and gave an exaggerated snore. “Jim!” 

“No~” He whined, curling around the human.

“You’re squishing me!” That only managed to loosen his grip by an iota. 

What released him was Aaarrrgghh outright grabbing Jim’s scruff and pulling up enough for Toby to wiggle free. “Play nice.” The gentle giant then put Jim back down. Both boys pouted at that, giving Aaarrrgghh a betrayed look.

“No, seriously, you want us to get you anything?”

“Not-” Jim yawned, falling against Aaarrrgghh’s bulk, his eyes closing, “-really.” 

“Blankets, Master Jim.” Blinky reminded, now awake and watching the boys.

“Ah, hmm. Yeah.” Jim nodded and lunged forward, grabbing Toby around the shoulders and rubbing his cheek against the human’s head and neck, scenting him. “You and Claire need your own blankets for the nest. Ones that you like and not just the ones that I found around the market.”

“Blankets. Awesomesauce.” Toby tilted his head into the rough cheek rubs, “anything else?” 

“Mmm… Have fun. Enjoy the sun. Try a cheesesteak. I heard that they’re no Diablo Maximus, but they’re fantastic anyway. Have fun-”

“You said that already.”

“Hn,” Jim nodded. “See you tonight, Tobes.” Turning toward Claire, he held out his arm to beckon her closer since she stood just outside of lunging range. “Claire~” 

Rolling her eyes with an amused smirk, she grabbed Jim’s hand and let him pull her into his lap, letting him scent her like he did Toby. “You big baby.” She murmured fondly, returning the scenting gesture. “Don’t worry, I have the entire day planned out, including cheesesteaks, and I’ll send you plenty of pictures. And we’ll get so many blankets.” 

“...Why blankets?” Toby finally asked. 

“Or pillows. Big fluffy ones.” Jim didn’t answer the question. “For the nest.” Or kind of did. Toby still looked confused. “It’ll make more sense when you have to deal with the instincts.”

“Ahh… ok.” It did make sense, to a point. He was currently kneeling in Blinky and Aaarrrgghh’s nest, which consisted of various blankets, rugs and furs, but it wasn’t near as fluffy as the one in Jim’s den, but it was nearly as big. On the road, they didn’t necessarily have a nest, but Aaarrrgghh had insisted on bringing a couple of his favorite blankets anyway, and not just his sleeping bag. In fact, one of the blankets looked like it had made it to this nest instead of Jim’s. He didn’t mind, but it was amusing to realize that his scent was wanted in this nest as well as their own. “We’ll see you tonight then.”

Making sure he headbutted Aaarrrgghh in greeting, Toby carefully crawled back out of the nest, bussing Jim and brushing by Blinky on the way. Standing up, he held out his hands and helped Claire out as well, after she gave Jim a peck. Watching the two leave holding hands, Jim sighed and slumped forward in an absent show of flexibility. “I guess I should get going too, get ready for tonight.” 

“That would be for the best, Master Jim. Busy hands and all that.” Blinky settled a hand on Jim’s back and rubbed small circles. He could feel the tension that would only get worse throughout the day. “But first, I do believe a meal to break your fast would be for the best.” 

Jim grimaced at the thought of food, finally sitting up again as Aaarrrgghh moved to get out of the nest. He pressed his forehead against Blinky’s, volunteering to go get breakfast in Trollish, leaving the two blue trolls to get ready for the day. 

“Now, what all do you have planned for today, now that Claire and Tobias are off on their date?”

“Ah! The chubby tracker!” Jim smacked his forehead with a hiss. He was going to ask Toby about it before he left, but was nearly incoherent when he had woken up. 

“Yes, that would be important to enquire about. Might I suggest either just messaging Tobias or looking through his belongings for it. I’m sure that he would not mind you going through his things to find it.” 

“Uh, yeah. I’ll text him later for it.” Jim nodded absently, finally crawling out of the nest and fixing his kilt. Somehow in his sleep, it had managed to twist completely backwards, and he had no clue how. “Otherwise, I guess I’m going to be digging the pit for Tobes. I don’t know how long that’ll take though, since I don’t know how much I’ll have to dig out.”

Blinky nodded, “Would you like either Aaarrrgghh or I to help you?”

To which Jim immediately shook his head, not surprising Blinky in the least. “No, thank you Blink, but I… I think I’ll have to do it by myself.” 

“Of course. One of us will check on you occasionally then. Just don’t be afraid to ask either one of us to help at any time. You do not have to do this alone.” 

“I know. It just feels right, doing it alone.”

“I understand, Master Jim.” 

* * *

The teens did indeed keep Jim updated throughout the day, sending him texts, mostly consisting of various pictures of Toby, and some of Claire, goofing off around Philadelphia. Some were labeled things like ‘TP’s first Philly Cheesesteak’ or ‘Claire the Condiment Sorceress.’ Others were pictures of various decorative blankets and pillows, asking Jim’s opinion, of which each time, he told them that it was their choice. There were a few odd questions and then a long silence after, but Jim didn’t really notice, only responding when he was taking breaks from digging. 

The ‘cooling pool’ that Blinky had reminded him about was little more than an empty room with a slight dip in the middle. He could see where the dimensions of the pool had been scratched out into the floor, but it was little more than that. Scratching the surface, it yielded under his claws with some effort. It turned out to be a softer stone, not compressed dirt like he was hoping for. On the good side, the water in the pool would stay clean for use after a good scrubbing, but it would take forever to drain naturally, without bailing most of the grey water into the stream afterwards. But right now, that didn’t really matter. All that did was confirm that it was possible for him to do the digging without hunting down tools or Aaaarrgghh for help. In fact, it felt like the same stone that he had dug his den out of. Knowing that, he was optimistic that he would be able to finish his project by the time Toby and Claire returned. 

* * *

“Dude, you have a  _ tail  _ and didn’t tell me?” 

Jim jumped up and spun in shock, only covering his front when he realized that Claire was standing next to Toby. “Tobes! Do You Mind?” He squeaked out, lunging for his discarded kilt in vain. 

“A  _ tail _ , Jimbo. I would think that’s kinda a  _ big thing _ to tell your  _ best friend _ about,” Toby plowed on, irregardless of his friend’s state of dress, or lack thereof, especially since he was apparently full troll where it counted, and thus had nothing to really hide. Plus, it wasn’t like Claire hadn’t seen him naked before either. “Where do you hide that in your armor?”

That got Jim to stop for a moment, his mouth to open to answer before he stopped. “I… don’t really know.” It wasn’t like his tail was a big lizard-like one like most trolls had. It was a small thing, easily hidden under the length of kilt he had taken to wearing. Only a little longer than a foot, with a tuft of hair at the end like an elephant or cow. Bending over to pick up the kilt, he saw just how thoroughly dust-covered his stone skin was, reminding him exactly why he had taken off the kilt in the first place. Sighing, he dropped the kilt in the corner and crossed his arms, turning around. “And stop staring at my tail, Tobe-” His teeth clicked together and his cheeks bloomed purple as he looked back away. He didn’t bother reaching for his kilt again though, despite his tail tip twitching like an angry cat’s would. “Hi Blink.”

“Good to see you embracing your nature, Master Jim.” 

“Yeah, good to know you’ve got the same skin tone  _ All the way down _ .” NotEnrique snickered from Claire’s shoulder. Like he had much to say, wearing green overalls and a t-shirt that said ‘Cookie Nomster’ on it. 

“I’m… gonna go wash off.” Jim gestured toward the glorified hole in the floor that was about a meter deep and three across. Still small for what it would eventually be, but good for what they needed it for. “If you guys don’t mind, can you help start filling it up in the meantime?” What had created so much dust was that he had been smoothing out the walls and floor for the past hour, making sure that he didn’t leave any sharp edges that could accidentally slice open a human foot. There were buckets along one wall that he had been using to haul rock away that he knew were watertight enough to fill the pool. Somehow, both ex-changelings were there, and while he could deal with NotEnrique seeing him nude, Nomura was on a whole other level. For one, he respected her and her opinion. And another, she had firmly taken on the role of reluctant tea/vodka aunt. 

Stopping in front of Claire, he gave NotEnrique a look before poking him in the forehead, nearly tipping him off his perch. “Did you have a fun date?” Jim asked softly, carefully pecking her cheek, trying not to get any stone dust on her clothes. 

“I think we had more fun than you did. Go clean up Blue Boy, gray is  _ not  _ your color.” Claire patted Jim’s chest, raising a cloud of rock dust in the process. 

“What do you mean, it’s not? Mom told me that it brought out my eyes.” Jim batted said eyes, framing his face with his hands, making Claire roll hers.

“Just go.” She gave him a small shove. “We can haul buckets for you in the meantime.”

“Okay.” stopping next to Toby, Jim bent over enough to buss his cheek as well, whispering in his ear. “I hope you get a tail too, Tobes, because  _ payback _ .” Toby grinned, but said nothing as he patted Jim’s bicep and pushed him toward the hot springs. “Make sure the water is comfortable for you.” He spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “I don’t want to find out if scalding transfers during transformation or not. And there’s no point on dunking you in cold water, since this is a  _ hot spring _ .” 

“Go take your bath already!” Toby stuck his tongue out, getting a raspberry back before Jim disappeared down the tunnel. Knowing how large the pool was, Jim took his time scrubbing down, rinsing his hair twice after feeling the grit in it. It also gave him time to think some more. Toby was definitely going through with it, with a smile even. He just hoped that he wouldn’t come to regret his decision, following Jim into the world of trolls nearly three years ago. The culture was completely different, and he missed being among humans and under the sun fiercely every day. What he would have given to go on that date with Claire and Toby, exploring the area and finally trying the local cuisine. God, he missed properly cooked steak. 

Deciding he had enough of the scalding water, Jim shook off the excess, reaching for a towel that he hadn’t brought, nor his kilt. Sighing, damp but no longer dripping, he went back to the side-room that held his freshly-carved pool. If he was human, the drop in temperature would have raised goosebumps on his arms. Looking in, he noticed that Nomura and NotEnrique where nowhere in sight, while the pool itself looked about halfway filled. 

“Hey, Tobes, I need your tracker band.” Jim spoke up, spotting his friend changed into a plain bathrobe and (presumably) nothing underneath. 

“Oh, right!” Jim had called about it earlier in the day, so he made sure to grab it when he and Claire dropped the new things off in the den. “Here you go, Jimbo.” Jim took the watch, but there must have been something written on his face, because Toby’s face fell and he gave Jim a hug. “Jim… Hey, Claire, can you hold down the fort for us?” 

Claire must have seen the same thing, because she just nodded. “We still have half the pool to fill, so take your time TP.” 

Toby nodded. “Come on, Jimbo, lets go sit down for a bit, ok?” Toby lead him out by the hand, picking a random direction. The first open semi-private alcove he found, he pushed Jim to sit before crawling onto his lap and looping his arms around him. “It’ll be fine, Jimbo. This is something I want to do. It's  _ my  _ decision.” Jim stayed silent, pulling Toby close and curling around him as much as he could before his breath started to hitch.

The more he tried to stop it, the tighter he held his best friend, the harder it became to breathe before the first tear escaped. “I’m so scared, Tobes. I love you and I don’t want to see you in pain.” He whispered, stroking the human’s hair like he would a teddy bear. 

“The pain will be worth it.” Toby sounded so determined as we wiped away Jim’s tears, however futile it was. “I will be with  _ you _ . With Claire and Aaarrrgghh and Blinky. You won’t have to see me die in eighty years.”

“No, you’ll have to see me die as a trollhunter instead.” 

“That’s why its Troll _ hunters _ , and has been ever since you picked up that stupid amulet. We will protect each other, and now I’ll be strong enough to protect you as well.” 

“You were already strong enough, Tobes.” 

“Strong enough, for a human, but not for a troll.” Jim released a whine, remembering how Merlin had said something similar before Jim’s own transformation. “Besides, I’m a redhead. You know how bad the sun is for us, I was halfway to being a troll already, might as well make it official, right?”

Jim let out a watery chuckle, not really feeling the joke, but trying for Toby’s sake. The joke served its purpose though, and Jim was able to take his first full breath in a good while. Pressing his horns to Toby’s forehead, Jim breathed in Toby’s human scent for the last time. It was so achingly familiar, and he would never smell the same again. “It's going to hurt.” Jim warned again. “When you go under, the potion will paralyze you, but you will still feel everything. Just breathe as normally as you can, like when we were in the Shadow Realm. It’ll look like the same thing too, but it's not. You will feel your bones break, your muscles stretch and your skin crack. You will feel like you’re going to bleed to death, your skin burn and your blood boil, and it will be pure torture. And, no matter how much you beg, it will not stop until it finishes. Then, it will let you go.”

As startling as it was, it was nothing that Toby hadn’t already assumed. Jim never talked about it, but Claire did, about his nightmares that would keep him up for days at a time, where he couldn’t stand the unlit dark and still pools of water always made him think twice. About the times where she had called Blinky to hold Jim down so that he wouldn’t dig furrows into his new stone-like skin just to watch the blood well up on his arms. 

“And then there are the instincts. How I haven’t gone insane, I don’t know. They’re just so different from being human, so much stronger than you would expect them to be. And it drives troll culture  _ so much more _ than I ever thought it would. We are children, and have the instincts of one. One minute I want to cuddle, then I want to cry for no reason. And lust just… I know what it felt like, and I know its there in the recesses, but it's just so much less important now. But it's so much deeper now too. When Blinky said that I was his son the first time, I wanted to cry. I knew that part of my heart was broken and bare beforehand as a human, but family and clan is just… a troll without a clan is a dead troll. You just, literally can’t survive alone as a troll. A troll without a clan might as well be a troll without a hearthstone. It's so cold, when you’re by yourself Tobes. You are  _ mine _ . My family, my clan,  _ Mine.  _ And your pains are my pains, and I never want to see you hurt.”

“It won’t hurt, because you're  _ mine  _ as well. And your pain was hurting  _ me _ . This will help us both. We’ll be together.” Toby raised up on his knees far enough to encircle his arms around Jim’s head in a hug, pulling him down to his chest. “Claire and I got you something while we were out.” He spoke quietly, stroking Jim’s hair beneath his horns. “it's not much, but we thought it might help prove just how serious we were, the three of us together again. We talked a lot, and we agreed on a few things while we were up there, and this was one of them. Claire and I might never have the same relationship as you and Claire do, or even how you and I do, but we are still important to each other.” 

Reluctantly letting go of Jim, but not leaving the circle of his arms, Toby dug into his robe pocket, pulling out a silver necklace consisting of a thick wheat-braid chain and three large beads, spaced with four smaller silver beads. The three large beads were simple, with a faceted amethyst on one side, a smooth goldstone on the other and a dark blue sodalite in the middle. “This one is yours. One for each of us, you see?” Jim took the necklace reverently, twisting the beads gently so that he could see each one at all different angles. “And this one is mine, for now. Claire will get a chain the correct length when we know how long it needs to be.” Toby pulled out his with a finger, his beads currently hanging on a piece of yellow nylon rope that was knotted so that it would expand like those cinching friendship bracelets, though it still hung very loose tightened as far as it could go. His beads were also switched, with the goldstone in the middle. 

“Good, ‘cause that’s tacky.” Jim brushed the yellow nylon before holding his own necklace up for size. Absently, he noticed that the clasp wasn’t one of those fiddly lobster or spring ring ones that would be impossible to deal with with his larger fingers, but what looked like a simple toggle hoop-and-bar that he could put on and take off by himself if needed. Still, absently Jim thought of ways to make the necklace impossible to remove when the time came. “Help me?” 

“Yeah.” He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard Toby choke up a little as he took the necklace and crawled behind Jim. The chain ended up being a little shorter than he would like, but it wasn’t a choker, and after Toby adjusted his scruff, he had just that much more length so that it was lying on his upper sternum. “There.”

“Thank you.” he spoke lowly, fiddling with the beads as he lifted his other arm to welcome Toby back onto his lap. 

Some time later, Claire found their alcove and leaned against the wall. Seeing the necklaces hanging from her boys’ necks, she gave a small smile and pulled out her own. Hers was a snake chain with her sunstone bead on the right and sodalite on the left. Her chain and spacer beads, unlike Jim’s were gunmetal, while Toby had opted for copper and would get a rope chain when Claire knew the length she needed to get. 

“Hey.” She spoke softly, watching Jim’s ear twitch but not move much otherwise, except to hold Toby tighter. “We’re just waiting on you now. It’s your show, after all.” 

“Yeah, we’ll be right there.” Toby tried to pull back, only to be held tighter.

“Just another minute, please.” 

“Ok.” He agreed, giving Claire a helpless little shrug. “One more minute, then showtime. Then you can hold me however long you want afterwards.” Jim released a low sound somewhere between a reluctant groan and whine, but did actually let Toby go after another minute.

“Lets get your tracker set up first, ok?” Jim was reluctant to let go of Toby’s hand (somewhere, in the back of his horror-struck mind, he imagined Toby cannonballing into the potion, laughing maniacally), but needed both to thoroughly wrap his chubby tracker in what felt like fifty layers of plastic wrap and tape, before securely tying it to Toby’s necklace. Next, he made sure that the tracker was connected to his phone, since that was the most important part of making sure Toby got back to them safely and quickly. With a chirpy trill, the two pieces of technology synched and Jim nodded, letting go of Toby’s hand.

Claire stepped forward then, the mason jar of potion in hand. “Showtime.” She kissed his cheek and handed the jar over. “See you on the other side.” She had no intention of seeing a naked human Toby, so only followed her boys to the entrance of the pool room. Earlier, she had sent NotEnrique and Nomura to stand alert by the hot springs and underground river respectively, just in case Jim’s theory about the potion was wrong. 

Getting hugs from both Blinky and Aaarrrgghh, as well as luck from them both, Jim was the only one to follow him into the otherwise empty pool room. “So… I just pour this in and get in then?”

“Yep.” Jim carefully didn’t look in the direction of the filled pool, though the water was currently crystal clear and reflected the dim lights coming from the glow crystals. While Toby shed his robe, Jim took his time buckling his kilt back on, facing the wall. The hiss and pop of a newly unsealed jar was nearly covered with the fumbling of his belt buckle, but the sound of that potion being poured into water was unmistakable. “It won’t take you until you fully submerge, so be careful getting into the-” 

A cutoff yelp and a splash and then… nothing.

“Toby!” Jim turned around, but it was already too late, the potion was swirling away. “Oh, no. No, no, no, Tobes!” 

“Master Jim?” Blinky peered around the doorway, to see his son on all fours in front of the pool, consciously breathing and trying to stave off his panic. And no Tobias. “Ah.” 

“Come on, Tobes, give us a sign here.” Jim begged, staring at his phone with an intensity that he had last seen when Nana Domzalski was in the hospital. Just in case, he reloaded the tracking app, checking where Toby’s last known GPS signal had been. Currently, it was just… gone. Missing. But that was ok, that was normal, he already knew that tracking spells wouldn’t work in shadow dimensions, why would tracking technology be any better? He reloaded the app. 

“Jim, maybe we should go-”

“No!” Jim shook off his father’s calming hand with a snarl, spinning away and reloading the app for a third time. “It shouldn’t matter if he’s awake or not, the tracker should turn back on as soon as- There!” That beeping trill had to be one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard. Between one blink and the next, Jim was out the door and racing down the tunnels, alternating between two feet and four as he took a corner by launching himself off the wall. An impressive feat of agility… if he hadn’t yelled at the boy last week for doing the same thing during a non-emergency. 

Turning to ask his mate to follow the boy, he found the Krubera already taking chase to the best of his ability. “Ah, Claire,” He had absently caught the girl by the shoulder when Toby first yelped and was glad that he hadn’t let go. “I believe it would be best as we leave Tobias’ retrieval to our two heavy lifters, since I have the feeling that he will not be near as svelte as our Jim. Would you like to help me rearrange your nest in the meanwhile? I heard that you got some new contributions in your outing.”

Exhaling, Claire nodded, still staring at the direction that Jim and Aaarrrgghh went. “We got some four inch foam mats to go under the nest, to make it a little deeper, along with a couple of huge pillows and blankets. The boys might not appreciate it, but I grabbed a couple of those velvet ones, and a sherpa blanket that feels just like a sheep wool pelt.” 

“Those do sound like lovely additions, Miss Claire. I’m sure that they will love them just as much as you do.” 

* * *

“Road!” Aaarrrgghh warned, following Jim to the best of his ability. When it had become too much to dodge things on the forest floor, Jim had taken to the trees, speeding up even more. At this point, he was a blue-colored fast-moving blur that he could only catch glimpses of between the full summer foliage. Thinking nothing of it, Jim cleared the three-lane street cutting across their path with ease, irregardless if any humans had seen him or not. Thankfully, they were far enough outside of town, that the chances of discovery after the reckless stunt was minimal. Still, Aaarrrgghh stopped just within the treeline and looked both ways before continuing. Age had tempered haste with caution.

With how far they had already traveled, it definitely led credibility to Jim having rematerialized five miles away. They were at least that far away from the closest Trollmarket surface entrance and Jim had no indication of slowing down anytime soon. There were enough rivers in the area that the ground seemed almost swampy in areas, enough to worry Aaarrrgghh that Toby would possibly drown, or he or one of the boys would get trapped in the mud. It was one of the reasons he was so reluctant to visit the Wumpa colony unless he absolutely had to, honestly. 

“Tobes!” Aaarrrgghh released a silent sigh of relief before putting on one last sprint, finally catching up with Jim. 

* * *

Jim didn’t know how far he ran, just that he was following the little dot on the map connected to Toby’s Chubby Tracker. Finally, he was practically on top of the dot and dropped down to the forest floor, looking around. “Tobes!” He called out, hoping to get a response. Taking one last look at the tracker before putting his phone away. He was around here somewhere. 

A low groan and a small movement caught his eye and he turned to focus on what looked like a gold-brown colored boulder before he recognized a patch of familiar auburn hair. “Tobes?” Jim crouched with caution, slowly crawling closer and ignoring Aaarrrgghh’s arrival behind him. “C’mon give me a sign here…” He was sure it was Toby, but at the same time, he could now understand Aaarrrgghh’s nose confusion after his transformation. The troll in front of him may have had some similarities to his oldest friend, but the scent was practically that of a stranger’s. 

Slowly moving around the new troll, Jim took in the yellow nylon cord that was now almost too tight, the troll’s hand (with three fingers instead of four, he didn’t know about the other yet) was wrapped around the tracker and beads. Taking in Toby’s face, he met exhaustion-glazed but familiar green eyes and smiled. “Hey, Tobes, are you with us?” He reached out and cupped Toby’s face, framing the slow blink and small smile he got as an answer. 

“Knew I could do it.” Toby whispered, his eyes sliding shut.

“Yeah. Yeah, you did, Tobes.” Jim could feel the tears start to slide down his face as he closed his own eyes and pressed his own horns to Toby’s newly-sprouted ones and just… breathed. “Let's get you home. Can you stand?” Slowly, ever so slowly, Toby turned and got both hands and feet under him. By the time he managed a shaking four-point stand, Aaarrrgghh and Jim had pressed in from both sides to support him.

“Good. Good.” Cracking a small smile that he pressed into Toby’s shoulder, he supported the now-taller troll while Aaarrrgghh turned to present his back for Toby to climb on. With how shaky he was, there was no way they would make it back to the market walking. There were times that Jim forgot just how massive Aaarrrgghh was, and this was one of those times when he was grateful for it. While Toby was now too large for Jim to carry comfortably for an extended amount of time, Aaarrrgghh could easily take the weight. On all fours, even crouching with fatigue, Toby was eye-level with Jim, and would be even taller standing completely upright. Still not as large as Aaarrrgghh (thankfully), he would possibly have the chance of being a similar size when they were full-grown. 

After carefully helping Toby secure his grip on Aaarrrgghh’s back, he motioned for the larger troll to stand up. “Are you good there, Tobes?” Jim asked, only getting a tired nod while he adjusted his grip on the moss-green fur and buried his nose into the warmth. 

Living exclusively with trolls for the past two years, Jim had learned that troll whelps have a clinging instinct, so he wasn’t worried about Toby falling with how he was wavering in an out of consciousness, but kept one hand on him the whole time, either way. It would be a long walk back to the market. With his free hand, he pulled out his phone and sent off a message that they had found Toby and were on their way back. 

* * *

“Claire?” Blinky asked when the girl crawled out of their project of a nest to retrieve her phone. 

After a minute of staring, she looked up and grinned. “They have TP and are coming home.”

Blinky released a nervous breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding and nodded with his own small smile. “Good. That means that we should finish this nest before our boys return.” Quickly shooting back a text, and giving the changelings an update, Claire nodded and went back to her previous position so that Blinky could hand over the thick foam mat that he had been holding. 

* * *

Jim’s phone chirped and he pulled it out, looking at Claire’s response. “Hmm…” He looked up at Toby, who was currently unconscious, his entire face buried in Aaarrrgghh’s mane. It wouldn’t really help, but yeah, ok. “Hey, Aaarrrgghh, close your eyes for a moment. I want to take a picture of Tobes and I’m going to use flash.” The taller troll grunted and closed his eyes, also bending down a bit to make it easier on Jim. A short series of strobing lights later, Aaarrrgghh stood up and blinked away the stars in his eyes before they continued walking.

“Huh, that’s… interesting.” Jim murmured, looking at the pictures he took before turning the screen Aaarrrgghh’s direction. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen troll skin do anything quite like that before.”

Looking at the picture, he could see what Jim meant. “Rare.” He agreed, nodding. “Polished skin. Like Nomura.” But unlike Nomura, it looked like Toby had bubbles of fire under his skin, just waiting to burst. The light of Jim’s flash reflected oranges and yellows and gold sparkles that were breathtaking. There were even flashes of green, if he looked close enough. “Rough skin.” He said, pointing to his own arm, then to Jim’s. “More common.” 

“Yeah, I guess so.” Jim selected the best picture of the lot and sent it to Claire, though it still didn’t really show much beyond Toby’s back and what hair stuck out from behind his horns. Unfortunately, they were so forward-sitting, they were nearly completely hidden by Aaarrrgghh’s fur. 

* * *

“That’s… huh, fascinating.” Claire murmured, tilting her head and staring at the picture. “I bet TP will be able to tell us exactly what’s going on with his skin there.” 

Blinky came over with an armful of blankets, dropping them in excited shock as he took in exactly what he was looking at. “Great Gorka Morka, Tobias has been blessed with gemstone skin.”

“What skin?” 

“Gemstone skin. I am sure you recall that Nomura has a similar shine to hers. It’s a rare trait, one that is said to be a blessing from the spirits, if you believe such nonsense. While troll skin can come in nearly color imaginable, we often have a matte or rough quality to the surface that makes it easier to blend in with our surroundings when needed.” Blinky gestured to one of his arms, holding it out for Claire to feel. “Now, while we can take the effort to polish our skin to a shine, gemstone skinned trolls have a natural shine that is hard to replicate. Though, often times it also hinders grip, since their fingertips are smooth as well. We will have to watch Tobias to see if he will need his hands texturized or not in the future. Though, gemstone skin is also notoriously more difficult to carve. We may have to seek out a specialist for him eventually, since ours… passed right before the Eternal Night.”

“Was it the guy that had that carving booth at Trollmarket?”

“...No, It was Vendel. He was more than just our leader, he was our most proficient medic and shaman as well. He wasn't just Trollmarket’s leader because he was old, but because of his skills in multiple areas of expertise, stone shaping included.”

Claire nodded, placing a hand one one of Blinky’s elbows. “Vendel was amazing, even more than I knew. It’s hard to live up to someone like that.”

“That it is, Dear Claire,” Blinky patted her hand in response, “That it is.”

* * *

By the time they made it back to the hidden cave entrance, Jim was tired. Not just physically, but emotionally and mentally drained as well. Once or twice, Toby had shifted and adjusted his grip on Aaarrrgghh’s fur, but he hadn’t fully awakened again. Pulling out his horngazel, Jim started drawing the biggest gateway he could to let the three of them pass cleanly, only to be surprised as the arch started being drawn from the other side as well. Whoever was on the other side drew faster and opened the gateway, meeting him when he was just starting the top arch. 

“About time you got back, Trollhunter.” A female smoker’s voice greeted them, stepping aside to let them through.

“Come to welcome us back, Nomura?” Jim asked with a half-grin, watching her study what she could see of Toby with crossed arms. 

“No, I was just on my way out. Unlike you,  _ some _ of us have work in the morning.” Jim nodded, watching her pull out her mask just to make her point. 

“Thanks for coming by then. You didn’t have to.”

“No, I didn’t.” She ran her finger along the smooth skin of Toby’s elbow, pulling back with a smirk when Jim gave a small warning growl. “I wanted to see if Tubby here would actually go through with it.”

“It’s Toby. You know this Nomura.”

“As you say, Little Gynt.” She put on her mask, shrinking to her petite human guise. “If you’re going to train him, I might have to come around more often. Tubby might prove good for a laugh or two.”

Jim opened his mouth, then decided better and just rolled his eyes instead. “Goodnight, Nomura. We’ll see you when Tobes gets to feeling better, then.” 

“Good Night, Little Gynt.” Drawing a smaller gateway, she left a mildly exasperated half-troll and a concerned ex-general behind in the tunnel.

“Strange…” Aaarrrgghh murmured, turning to go down the tunnel.

“Not really. You just have to learn how to read between the lines with her.” Jim took the lead, since he knew the new market a bit better. “She just offered to train him once Tobes is ready for her… level of training. She doesn’t think I’ll push him hard enough if he really wants to fight as a troll.” Jim shrugged. “She’s probably right. It’s already hard for me to train with Claire sometimes.” 

Aaarrrgghh nodded in understanding. “No hurt friends. Mates.” 

Jim blushed and looked away, scratching at his cheek with the hand he wasn’t keeping on Toby. “No, I guess not.” Entering into the main area of the market, it took Aaarrrgghh poking his side to realize that he had started a low-level growl at everyone that even vaguely looked their direction. Blinking, he swallowed the rest of his growl, looking at the bigger troll innocently as he was prodded again.

“Side street. Go.” 

“Ah, right. Uh… this way.” He was confused. He had felt the growl as it built up in his chest the further into the main market he went. He… had never growled without reason at random trolls befo- wait, no. He had done it once before. About two weeks after they started on the road, Claire had started her period, which had thrown his newfound instincts into overdrive. Nearly a full week of smelling human blood- his human’s blood- had made him just a bit too overprotective. He’d gotten… better, but he was still hypersensitive to Claire’s cycles and what it did to him. 

Being trollhunter, his den was a little more centrally located than he would prefer at the moment. Taking the back way didn’t eliminate all of the gawkers, but at least they weren’t going through the main marketplace any longer. Not soon enough, they finally made it to the den. While he was no longer growling, he was hypervigilant, his ears twitching to catch every sound in case of threat. “In.” Aaarrrgghh poked him in the back, forcing him to reluctantly enter his own den. 

Even knowing who to expect, Jim still cased his own den, absently acknowledging Blinky and Claire as they finished piling new cushions into the nest, peering into every side-room that was half-built before turning and gesturing Aaarrrgghh in. Kneeling gently next to the nest, he let Jim climb up to tease Toby’s fingers out of his mane. Working together, they were able to settle the new troll into the nest with minimal fuss. 

Spotting Toby’s half-open eyes, Claire knelt down and smiled, pressing a kiss to the space between his horns. “Welcome home, TP. We’ll be here when you wake up.” With a sigh and a sleepy smile, Toby nodded and closed his eyes, cuddling into the fresh blankets. “Jim.” Standing up, she pulled her boyfriend’s attention from where he was settling in to watch over Toby’s rest. “I need to go into the office for a few hours tomorrow. They haven’t seen me in over a week and they’re starting to get worried about me. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Nodding, they shared a kiss before Claire headed off. She was lucky enough to get a job where as long as the work got done, they didn’t care if she was physically there or not, but she liked to work in the building at least a few days a week, to prove that she wasn’t wasting their time. It meant that she was going to sleep in her own bed in town though, so she could get there and back at a reasonable time. “We’ll be here.”

NotEnrique watched his sister leave the cave before crawling over as close as he could to the nest to get a better look, only stopping with Jim’s warning growl. “Easy there, Lil’ Blue. Just wanna take a look at babyface here.” He reached out to pat Toby on the cheek, but snached his hand back at Jim’s short snarl. “Oo-kay, then. A bit protective there, mate. Sis, wait up!” He scuttled out, muttering about overprotective idiots in love in the process. 

“I do believe that this would be our cue to exit, Master Jim.” Blinky spoke softly, having watched his son’s hackles remain some level of raised since they had returned. “Unless you would like Aaarrrgghh or I to remain with you?” Jim had to stop himself from his first response, fighting his instincts to kick both older trolls out of the den where his currently very vulnerable mate was passed out. 

Hesitantly, Jim nodded, verbally adding a caveat that they were welcome to stay as long as they wanted- in the main room only. It was hard enough intentionally showing himself as relaxed, sitting against the far wall by Toby’s feet. Even though it was just Blinky and Aaarrrgghh, the two trolls that he trusted above anyone else, his instincts were still demanding isolation, away from anyone and thing that could potentially cause harm. 

“We understand, Master Jim.” Intentionally moving away from Toby and projecting his movements, Blinky pat his son on the shoulder, smoothing down some of his scruff in the process. “If you need anything, just ask. One of us will stay in the area at all times.”

“Thanks Blink. For understanding.”

“It's all the instincts in this case, I’m afraid. Not much to be done about it but to accept and overcome them. Rest when you can, that is all I ask. Nothing will get to Tobias. Trollmarket is safe and your den doubly so with you and us here to protect him.” With a reassuring smile, Blinky thought best to leave the boys alone, pulling his longtime friend along behind him. With a quickly murmured conversation, Blinky left the den altogether to make sure that the market hadn’t fallen around their horns in the past hour and Aaarrrgghh settled down in the main room on a plush carpet, relaxed but attentive.

As the quiet settled, Jim stood and peered out to see Aaarrrgghh seemingly asleep in the living room, though his ears were perked toward the den entrance. Something in his chest settled and he nodded to himself, going to settle by Toby’s side himself, his hand resting lightly where he could keep track of any changes in breathing. One thing about becoming half-troll, he had learned the true meaning of ‘still as a statue’. He settled himself comfortably, ready for the long haul. 

* * *

“How is he doing?” Claire’s soft voice pulled him out of meditation.

“No change.” Aaarrrgghh murmured back. They were both in the main room.

“And Jim?” She tried to be quiet, but the books and various supplies for work thumped on the table.

“Quiet.” He could hear Aaarrrgghh’s amused rumble as Claire moved around to peek into the nest room. She gave Jim a smile and a wave before backing away. After getting growled at and a warning swipe, she hadn’t crossed the threshold unless Jim invited her in first. Jim was immediately apologetic about it, but the fact was, his instincts wouldn’t let anyone else into the nest room, let alone Toby’s foster troll or their mutual future mate. 

“Has he eaten anything?” She asked, opening the fridge to get her own meal out. There was no response, so Jim assumed that Aaarrrgghh had shaken his head. It was silent for a few minutes except for the puttering around that Claire was doing, setting up her workspace and preparing a light meal for herself. “Hey, Jim?” Claire knocked on the stone door jamb, even though he had already spotted her, “did you want anything while I’m in the kitchen?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Ok. I’ll just be at the table if you need anything. Aaarrrgghh is going to grab a bite for a bit, so it’ll be just us.” 

“Ok.” Lethargically, Jim pulled himself away from Toby and came to the door to give Claire a kiss before going back to his spot. The longer that Toby slept, the harder it was to keep vigil, between his own blossoming needs and his instincts clamoring that something was wrong and that Toby should be awake already. But it had only been a day, Toby was fine.

* * *

Two days. Things were  _ fine _ . Toby slept on, occasionally twitching while he dreamt, but otherwise not moving. Blinky sat in the main room for a few hours, reading out loud, but it was usually Aaarrrgghh that maintained guard.

* * *

Three and his eyelids felt like boulders. Both Claire and Blinky attempted to get him to eat something, but nothing looked even remotely appetising for as long as Toby was asleep. Blinky brought a different book this time, and read what sounded like bedtime stories in a mellow voice…

* * *

Toby woke slowly, his senses coming back to him one at a time. Slowly stretching like Dr. L had taught him, he took stock of his legs, his arms, his back, tensing and relaxing the muscles in groups. His neck was a little sore as he tried to lift his head. He had slept in an odd position or something, Looking down, Toby realized that he had wrapped his arms around Jim. Jim who was, heh… the last time that Jim had been smaller than him was back in elementary school, but even then it wasn’t this much of a difference. 

Oh.

Oh, yeah. That would explain the pain in his neck and the heaviness of his head: he had troll horns now. Moving slowly, partially not to wake Jim the Light Sleeper, and partly because of his obscenely sore muscles, Toby managed to escape the nest without disturbing the passed out half-troll. Jim must have been tired, since he only rolled into Toby’s spot, smashing his face into the blanket that he had been lying on. 

Suppressing a small laugh and coo, Toby shuffled his way to the door and leaned against it, watching Claire absently tuck that one strand of hair behind her ear for the hundredth time as she typed something on her laptop. “I thought that’s why you were growing out your hair?”

“I thought so to, but it still won’t stay pu- You’re awake!” Claire realized just who had spoken and slammed her laptop closed and spun in her chair with a wide grin. They both winced at the sound the laptop made and Toby looked over his shoulder when he heard a snort and mumble, but it was just Jim burying himself further into the nest. “You’re awake!” Claire repeated in a whisper-shout, launching herself at Toby with a hug. He caught her easily, much to his surprise, and just decided to hang on, letting her dangle a good foot off the ground. “How do you feel?”

“Sore. Bigger?” Still not completely awake, if he were to be honest. If this was his dream, he wasn’t sure what hit him to make him this sore and knocked him out at the same time. If he was awake, he hoped that the stiffness in his muscles weren't permanent. Looking over his shoulder at Jim again, he moved both of them further into the main room.

“He finally fell asleep about two hours ago. Jim never left your side the four days you were out.” Claire answered his unasked question. 

Toby nodded wryly, finally setting Claire down. “I would be more surprised if he had. That’s just the guy Jimbo is. I got a really bad flu one year, and Jim practically moved in the entire time I was sick, taking care of both me and Nana. Two weeks later I had to pay him back when he got a cold off of my flu. If nothing else, at least I can manage not to burn canned chicken noodle soup.” Laughing, Claire nodded in agreement. Their first winter, Claire had given herself a cold and was determined to ride it out in her apartment, but Jim had just covered her windows and taken care of her until she was better. 

“... Four days…” Toby murmured absently, doing some more through stretches now that he had the room to do so. He was focusing more on how he felt internally, than what he looked like on the outside. On one hand, he was excited to get his hands on a mirror (Claire had a small one for her makeup, but Jim didn’t really like mirrors too much anymore), but on the other he was more interested in what the others thought than his own looks. 

“... Do you want to try to eat something?” Claire remembered to offer, since it, indeed, had been four days since he had last eaten. Trolls could go for longer, but Blinky preferred Jim to keep to three meals a day, and likely would like Toby to as well. And the last thing Toby had had was a single cheesesteak sandwich, not a long-lasting meal in Toby’s hands even when he was human. 

“I’m always up to trying something new.” He gave Claire a grin, but chewed on his lip a moment, staring at the nest room’s doorway. “And we should really let Jimbo get some sleep if he stayed up the whole time.” 

Claire had meant raiding what Bagdwella had left in the kitchen for the two boys, but Toby had made a good point. And she had been working for a good stretch of time already; this assignment wasn’t due for a few days yet. “Let me write a note for Jim then, and we can go.” 

Nodding, Toby sat on the floor, intending to do some leg stretches, when he felt an odd sensation. “Claire…?”

“Hmm?” 

“Do I… have a tail?”

Her slow grin was enough of an answer itself. “It’s cute. Not as cute as Jim’s though. Yours looks more like Aaarrrgghh’s, but with soft spikes coming off the top edge. Come on, I know where we can find a good sized mirror so you can see for yourself.” 

“...ok.” Somehow, the tail made it too much. The horns, tusks, harder skin and changed size was fine… but somehow he never thought that he would get a tail. But then again, Jim actually had a tail. A small one, but a tail nonetheless. 

Intending to help him up, Claire grabbed his arm and pulled, finding that not only had Toby added size, but he weighed as much as a boulder now as well. Finding out quickly that, if he didn’t want to move, she had a snowball’s chance in hell doing so. And he was no small troll either. Standing bipedally, Toby was somewhere between Blinky and Aaarrrgghh in height, and at least twice as big as Jim. One good thing, though, was that the muscle that Toby had earned the past three years swinging around his hammer translated well into his new troll form. He was still on the stocky side, but his chest had broadened and he looked overall sturdier. The biggest difference between Toby and a typical troll had to be his legs. While most trolls definitely had legs more akin toward short elephant legs, Toby’s were comparatively longer, though not as long as Jim and other speed-oriented trolls and changelings. 

Overall, though, it seemed like Toby had better luck with the potion than Jim did, without random human things popping up, like Jim’s extra (or lack of, depending on your perspective) pinky finger. Toby, Claire noted as he let her pull him up, managed to have an equal amount of fingers on each hand. About the only thing that strayed into Uncanny Valley territory of ‘not quite troll’ was his nose. It was the typical troll nose, except that it was a bit more bulbous at the bottom, his nostril slits widening into more of a teardrop shape. But there was nothing, overall that screamed ‘human’ at first glance. 

“Maybe while we are out, we can get something for you to wear as well.” She mentioned absently, finishing her note and placing it in their usual memo spot on the counter.

Looking down at himself, then shrugging, Toby didn’t really see the point. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

“No.” She spoke with complete honesty, Taking Toby’s hand as she led him to Bagdwella’s place. “Though Jim might be.”

Nodding in agreement and absently moving to four limbs to be closer to Claire’s speaking height, (He was far too used to being around Aaarrrgghh and was bound to pick up the troll’s habits, consciously or not) Toby spoke lowly about what he had seen in the short time being there, and having known Jim since they were children, and how it wasn’t surprising in the least. “He’s really self-conscious. I’m surprised that he doesn’t wear a shirt when he’s not in his armor.”

“That’s a recent thing, actually. Jim was getting frustrated with how the fabric was rubbing against his scruff. I hear a lot of the same things from NotEnrique too, but he’s a lot more tolerant to the feeling… especially when I get him tee shirts that he finds hilarious. Hey, did you notice, NotEnrique and Enrique are still growing at the same rate? More often than not, I end up just buying two of the same thing and sending one set off to Mama and Papa.”

“...I thought that shirt looked familiar.” While he didn’t actively interact with the Nuñez family often, he saw them around enough that he had quickly seen that the Changeling and Familiar still had a connection with each other. In fact, while the Imp was approximately the size of a three-year-old, his horns had finally started to bud, making sense of why his hair had grown in a Mohawk style. There was no point in growing hair where horns would sprout, when it would just fall out eventually anyway. 

Ducking into a leather works shop at the edge of the market, Claire led Toby around to look at the various wares. While some trolls preferred cloth, the warriors and heartier wearing trolls went for sturdy leather. It tended to last longer and wouldn’t get damaged near as easily. Debating between several different styles, they decided to wait until they could get the opinions of Jim and the others. While Toby liked some things, he didn’t want to make his first impression into the troll world as a (half) troll himself a bad one. Besides, clothing was seen as something that was purely meant for decoration and use, not something out of necessity. Secretly, though, Toby had found one design that would match Jim perfectly. He may have been happy wearing a secondhand kilt, but cloth just wasn’t meant to last as long as it was. 

“What do you think of this one for Jim?” Toby pointed out a paneled kilt that was dyed an off-white color with blue designs around the edges. The panels were longer in the front, but shorter on the hips to not hinder movement, with two mid-length plates that overlapped in the back. The design was made so that it would flatter both tailed and non-tailed trolls of the more… svelte variety. 

“Hmm… maybe.” She actually adored it, but would Jim wear it willingly? 

Turning it around, Toby showed off where several pouches could easily be attached. “It has pockets.” Toby grinned, waggling a brow, witch had the hilarious effect of wiggling one of his horns the tiniest amount as well. “And if we asked, I’m sure that we could get Jimbo to try it on at least once.”

Biting her lip to try to stifle her giggle, Claire gave a reluctant nod. The more she thought about it, the more she would love to see Jim in it… at least once. Taking it over to the stall owner, she tried to barter for it, only to be turned down with a pat on the head. Instead, he insisted on- since it was for the trollhunter- it was on the house, as well as a set of pouches dyed blue that would easily match the kilt.

Next the stall owner turned to Toby and gestured him over, pulling out a series of leathers and swatches of dye colors, telling him to pick something. “I’m just looking for today, but thank you anyway.” He tried to defer, but the stall owner was insistent.

“Nonsense. It’s on the house. You want to look good for your trollhunter, don’t you?”

“Uh… what?” He didn’t know if he could blush anymore, but he was putting in a valiant effort.

“It’s been all over the market, kid. That his second mate was finally coming home. I’m assuming that you were that short fleshbag that he left back in Arcadia since I’ve never seen you around before. And Miss Claire here is escorting you around. You hear rumors, and you fit the description, especially since the whelp’s been quiet the past couple of days. And just ask anyone, we remember what happened when his change finally caught up with him.”

The troll sorted through his selection, holding this and that piece up, comparing it to Toby’s new stone skin. “And being a gem-skin like yourself. Well, we don’t get too many of your sort around. People are bound to notice one walking around.”

“I like that one.” Claire finally spoke up, but not to help Toby get out of the friendly interrogation. The one the shop owner was holding was a mahogany color with a sort of burnished copper that made the leather engraving stand out. It was an overall subtle look, but one that would still look good with Toby’s multi-faceted tones. 

The tanner held up the swatch and scrutinized it against Toby’s skin before nodding in agreement. “I think you’re right there, Miss Claire. Would a week be soon enough for you, or should I see if I have anything prepared in the back?”

“A week will be wonderful, thank you. And make sure there is a loop for Toby’s hammer also. On the right hip, toward the back.”

“Of course. You still swinging that hammer around then?” He asked Toby, taking notes down in a large book that had seen better days. “And do you want anything in particular with the embossing?”

“Not… really?” Toby was still back on that he was getting a custom leather kilt made for him… for free.

“Let's stick with a similar design to mine for now. Especially the protective runes around the belt. If Toby likes something else, we can always get him another kilt later on.”

“Right you are, Miss Claire. And speaking of,” the tanner flipped back a few pages, “did we want to make anything new for you while I’m at it, or are you going to stick with what you currently have?”

Claire grinned and shook her head. “I think I’m good for now. Everything still fits, but I might have to commission something new when I join the boys.” 

The tanner hummed in agreement, carrying an air of this conversation having occurred before at least once. “So, Master Jim’s then. The same designs, make them all a matching set?”

“Oh, that would be wonderful, thank you!” 

He nodded, flipping back to the page he was on first, and came around the table with a string in hand. “One last thing then. I need you to stand up straight for me, lad. I need your measurements.”

“Um… ok.” Letting himself be guided to the center of the booth, he stood up carefully, glad that the tent roof was both tall enough to accommodate the average troll, and free of the display pieces that hung around the edges. Within a few moments, the string was wrapped around his waist and a knot tied to indicate his girth. The process only took a few seconds and was over before he knew it.

“And done. See, nothing to be wary of, my lad. I will see you two, and hopefully Master Jim, in a week.” 

“I’ll make sure they get here.” Claire promised with a grin, leading a shell-shocked Toby out by the hand. “Thank you again, Garver. Your pieces always turn out beautifully.”

“It always helps to have such accommodating customers, Miss Claire. Take care.”

Strolling down the street, Claire didn’t bother letting go of Toby, but instead snuggled closer to him (and forcing him to stand upright in the meanwhile). “I’ve been meaning to ask, especially since you’re the minerals expert… what are you now?”

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Toby gave her a slow grin and pulled her closer to the nearest light, holding up his hand and twisting it to see the light reflected off it. “You see how it looks kinda dull and brown in the shade, but sparks with all the colors like that in the light? Classic fire agate. It’s a type of chalcedony in the quartz family. Spiritually, it embodies both fire and earth elements and is often used as a protection charm. Earth is a naturally protective element, while fire is energy and encouragement. It’s usually used to help shy people speak up, and to banish external negativity by reflecting it back on the other person. Promotes creativity and maturity, and encourages people to live the life they want, full of passions for the things and people they love.”

“Ok, now you’re just describing yourself.”

“I am?” Toby twisted his fingers in the light one last time, then stepped away, gesturing Claire to lead on. “I guess it all fits, then.”

“And what about Jim? I never did ask about his stone.”

“That’s because Jim never asked me. Unless something’s changed, for Jim, a rock is a rock.” 

“Not much has changed about that, then. Except it’s now ‘this one’s actually pretty tasty.’ For some of them.” Toby couldn’t help but laugh at that. He had noticed, that while they were going to get something to eat, he was also staring around and during his internal mineral categorizing, he was also now asking if it was edible or not. Some, he already knew from watching Aaarrrgghh, but not all. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, especially since humans took small amounts of minerals in their daily diet as well. Mainly salt.

“Jim’s is a bit harder to figure out, especially since I haven’t really been able to study his skin. It’s either Sodalite, which is my first guess, or dumortierite. Do you know if he glows under black light?”

“Maybe. I really don’t know.” It had never really come up before, but the thought was… frankly hilarious. She would have to go out and see if she could either borrow or buy a small black light to find out. 

Toby nodded, ducking into another tent with some familiar wares hanging in the front, following Claire into a cave in back with a few tables and chairs, picking one and sitting down. “Bagdwella expanded a bit when we got here, at least until the pub gets a bit better established. She likes cooking almost as much as Jim did, and she decided to take the chance to try it.” Claire commented, gesturing around at the half-cafe, half wares booth. 

Toby nodded, looking around himself and waving when he spotted the friendly trolless. “So, for now, I’ve been assuming Sodalite.” He got back to his favorite subject. “Which would be good for Jim. It’s not something that really matched him when we first started Trollhunting, but it's something that I can see him growing into. Sodalite is good for learning to be true to yourself and to use more logic than emotion in your everyday decision making. It doesn’t suppress emotions, but makes them easier to deal with so that he would stop making stupid decisions like going off without proper backup.”

Claire grunted in agreement, rolling her eyes. Jim had gotten… better, but he still needed reminding that he was not alone when the stress got to him. 

The two greeted Bagdwella when she shuffled over to them with a huge smile, and an even bigger platter. Putting it down and pointing out the more human-friendly options to Claire, she turned to Toby and squished his cheeks between her palms. “Just look at you! Oh, you’re so handsome, I could just  _ eat you up! _ ” She squealed, turning his head this way and that, inspecting him closely. “You make such a handsome Wumpa, even being gem-skinned.”

“Uh… thank… you?” Toby murmured through forcibly pursed lips. He didn’t think that he looked too much like a Wumpa, but then again, he had only known the females of the tribe, barring the false king and a distant look at a ‘cousin’ from across the battlefield during the Eternal Night. For one, he was the wrong color. As far as he was aware, all the Wumpa tribe shared the same Hiddenite stone tone. 

“You’re welcome, dear.” She patted his cheek one last time before stepping back and pointed at the platter, naming all the different dishes as she went. “Now, you tell me which ones you like or don’t like, and I’ll try to remember, ok hun?”

“If I like something, do you think that you could teach Jimbo the recipe?” Toby asked, already reaching for a nibbling of a dish that he remembered liking from Arcadia Market. It wasn’t bad, just different from what he remembered. He could now understand how Jim was having difficulties with his new diet. 

“Now, why would I do that?” Bagdwella huffed, flailing a napkin around absently.

“Because, before the amulet chose him, Jimbo wanted to be a professional chef, and he loves trying new recipes almost more than he loves his mom.” He didn’t know where he and Claire ranked in comparison to cooking, but those four things were the closest things to his heart and changing species wouldn’t change that.

Bagdwella pursed her lips and gave Toby a skeptical look. “Then why has he never asked about the recipes before? I can barely get the whelp to eat, let alone get him in the kitchen long enough to teach him how to prepare candied leather or clay biscuits.”

“Because he’s shy, believe it or not, and you’re…” loud. Overbearing. Borderline obnoxious? “Well, Jim’s shy and he doesn’t like seeming like a bother. And most of what he learned was self-taught or from cooking shows.”

“Oh, pish tosh, Master Jim could never be a bother.” Bagdwella dismissed with a wave of her napkin. “Then how would you suggest I teach him the recipes then, hmm?”

Thinking, Toby shrugged. “Just do like you would any other whelp old enough to help in the kitchen.” He suggested, drawing from his own experience in Nana’s (and, frankly, Jim’s) kitchens. “Give him a bowl of ingredients and tell him to stir, then work your way up from there. Eventually, if he can’t pick out the ingredients himself, he’ll ask. And usually, by that point, he’ll be so involved in the process that he won’t blink about what they are, just how to prepare them correctly.” 

Holding up what looked and felt like a piece of chalk, though it was shaped into a ball about the size of a hand ball. “Like this, Jim probably is leery of this, even though this is pretty much the equivalent of a jawbreaker candy.” Toby bit it in half, to see that it was what looked like a charcoal briquette wrapped in the chalk. It wasn’t bad, a little dry, but he could see himself eating these on a regular basis. “What all is in this one?”

“Well, I like to use cedar to start off with-“

“TOBES!” A familiar voice yelled, giving Toby enough time to stand up before he was head butted back into the table. Pulling his hands up instinctually, he wrapped them around whatever had hit him before looking down.

“Hey, Jimbo.” Toby cooed, his arms tightening around the smaller male, drawing him close.

“You weren’t there. I thought it was all a dream, and you weren’t there and I was scared that you disappeared.” Jim’s shoulders shook, and he ground his horns into Toby’s chest.

Toby winced, looking over at Claire before moving one hand to pet Jim’s hair, intentionally relaxing his body and leaning back against the sturdy table. “Sorry about that, Jimbo. We thought that you’d be asleep for longer and we didn’t want to wake you up in the meanwhile. Claire-Bear told me that you stayed up to watch over me the whole time.”

Jim nodded in agreement, eventually relaxing into Toby’s hold. Looking down at the top of his head, Toby couldn’t help the amused rumble that slowly turned into a small chuckle as he continued to pet Jim like one of Nana’s cats. “Last time I saw the top of your head, I think it was third grade.” 

It took a moment, but then Jim snorted and then groaned good-naturedly. “You know what, Tobes, I think you’re right. I forgot what your chin looked like from this angle.” Fact is, Jim had yet to actually look up at said chin, just resting his ear over Toby’s heart and giving Claire a small smile at where she sat across the table, sipping from her mug of ‘don’t ask.’

“Here,” Toby brought the half-eaten ball down to Jim’s face. “Taste this and tell me what’s in it.” Jim made a face and Toby just brought it closer. “Just humor me. Like the game we used to play: ‘Name that Spice.’” 

With a huff, Jim opened his mouth and let Toby feed him, moving it around his mouth to suss out all the possible ingredients. “Chalk and charcoal, to begin. The real stuff, not compressed talc. The charcoal is… a wood with a high density and sap content. Elm, maybe, or Cedar. The binding agent is, I’m not quite sure.”

“Mineral water, dear. Just a splash to make the limestone stick while drying.” Bagdwella nodded along, joining in at the table. She always loved watching the young Trollhunter interacting with his nest mates. “Try this one next.” She handed Toby a brown lump that the child had once dubbed ‘salty nibblets’. The boy again bit the piece in half before hand feeding the second to Jim. He made the same reluctant face, but still took it nonetheless. 

“Salted, spiced cat meat.” Jim described simply. As long as he didn’t think about what, exactly, he was eating, it was delicious. “With… red clay.”

“Very good. And this?” She handed over two pieces, knowing that this one had a texture that didn’t lean itself towards biting in half and sharing. Toby took his first and bit down, making a face but still handing Jim his. Jim ate his piece as well, but gagged and reached for Toby’s cup of ‘don’t ask’ and took a quaff. “Yeah,” Bagdwella mentally knocked that one off the list for the boys. “Copper filing tarts. You either love them, or hate them. I’ll make sure not to give them to you again.” Honestly, she had found that if a troll didn’t like the taste of warm blood, they couldn’t stand the tarts. Aaarrrgghh reluctantly liked them as a treat, but that was a small secret between the two of them. It was actually a modified Gumm-Gumm recipe but she wouldn’t tell. 

Slowly, the boys worked through the whole platter. There were a few more ‘absolutely not’s, but the plate was clean by the time the two were done. And, miracle of miracles, Jim had (somewhat) voluntarily eaten more in one sitting than she ever had seen him do so before. She was glad that she had overfilled the platter when the children had first entered. Now, if she could find some more dishes that all three would absolutely go for, she would count that as a win. 

While the trio sat and talked, Jim leaning against Toby the entire time, they actually managed to get Jim to eat a healthy amount for a troll his weight class. At one point, he had asked for more of a certain treat ‘to share’, which he had never done before. Sure, it wasn’t exactly the healthiest treat, but she could never say no to those eyes and actually getting the boy to eat at least something. 

At one point, their trainers had joined, each taking their turn to coo over the newest troll in their midst. Blinky had concurred that Toby definitely had some Wumpa characteristics, after assuring the boy that, while rare, it was possible for members of the clan to come in different colors. 

Aaarrrgghh, on the other hand, couldn’t have looked more proud if Toby was of his own stone. He pressed their foreheads together and breathed his new scent in, purring the entire time. It was a better welcome to the change that Jim had received, between peacetime and actually being prepared for what the whelp had volunteered for. “ _ Welcome, kixor. _ ” Aaarrrgghh murmured, scenting Toby before stepping back to stand next to an emotional Blinky.

“Kicker?” Toby tried, but couldn’t quite get the odd syllable in the middle of the new word.

“ _ Kixor _ . It doesn’t quite have an English translation.” Blinky explained with a wobbly lip and a handkerchief pulled from somewhere. “But the closest would be something along the lines of ‘young child that I have placed my future hopes on.’ It's something that newly emerged whelps are greeted with before being named and choosing a gender for themselves.”

“Oh.” Toby managed to get out in a small voice, his own expression starting to wobble in emotion.

“As you should know, by now. Children are precious to trolls, especially in this lean time after the defeat of Gunmar and Bular. You are,” Blinky looked at Jim and Claire as well, “All three the symbol of a new age of prosperity. We will be expecting a boom in whelps in the upcoming decades, now that parents don’t have to worry about thieves in the night, and you will be the first ones to lead this new charge. And I am… so proud of each one of you.”

“Happy.” Aaarrrgghh tacked on. Patting Blinky on the head as the scholar blew his nose and wiped his eyes. 

Getting emotional himself, Toby accepted the scent mark from Jim and gathered both smaller mates into an embrace while they all collected themselves. “Thank you, for letting me do this. For not making me stay behind again.”

“The pleasure is all ours, let me assure you.” Blinky stroked Toby’s cheek, leading down to patting Jim’s head, while his lower opposite hand gave Claire’s shoulder a squeeze. “Now. While this is all well and good, let's go see what you can do.” There was an eager gleam in his eyes that Toby hadn’t quite seen since the beginning of Jim’s training, and Toby felt fully in his rights to be wary. “If you recall, once master Jim went through his… bath, he had quite the boost in strength and agility, and, while he adjusted rather quickly by necessity, there were still a few fine-motor controls that he still hasn’t quite mastered.” 

“Like what?” Toby asked warily, wondering just how his new body might betray him.

“Oh,” Claire waved her hand nonchalantly, hiding a smirk by turning away from her blue troll. “Like last week, Jim forgot how tall he was and accidentally ripped down an entire string of hanging socks with his horns when he went to stand up. And a couple of days before that, he completely lost his footing and fell off one of the training platforms, because he was thinking too much about where to place said feet.”

Toby thought for a moment, his face soothing out from worry into wry amusement. “No, that’s just Jimbo. He’s always had two left feet and noodle arms.”

“Yeah, but these noodle arms can still kick your ass. You know how far I can toss Aaarrrgghh, I can probably make you go even further.” Jim grinned, getting one in return.

“Them thar’s fightin’ words…  _ noodle.”  _ Toby poked Jim lightly in the chest, bending down slightly in mockery, and yet he still managed to push Jim back a few inches.

“Bring it, Meatball!” Jim grabbed Toby’s hand, flipping the larger in a move he honestly hadn’t expected to work. 

“Not in my shop!” Bagdwella screeched, flailing her arms around and shooing the family straight out. “I don’t care where you go, but just take that tomfoolery anywhere else!” 

Sheepish at letting himself get caught up in adolescent troll instincts, Jim ducked his head from where Toby had managed to toss him on his ass, and apologized quietly, Aaarrrgghh picking up the boy and dusting him off in the meanwhile, finishing with a sympathetic pat on the head.

“Well, I don’t think we have to worry about you two sparring against one another, do we?” Blinky said in amusement, his lower hands on his hips, while the upper were crossed. “And this is what the forge is for, especially whelps like you three.  _ Too young to behave properly, yet too big to wrangle.” _ He muttered in an aside to Aaarrrgghh, fully aware that all three could at least catch the gist of what he said. Aaarrrgghh just snorted in amusement, and turned to lead the way. 

“Hey, Blinky, I’ll meet you and the boys there. I’m going to go change so I don’t rip up yet another work shirt.” And with that, Claire peeled off, back to the den. 

“Hey, Jimbo.” Toby asked after a few minutes, freely alternating between two and four limbs as they walked along. 

“Yeah, Tobes?”

“Do you… glow under black light?”

“ _ What _ ?” Jim gave Toby a strange look before promptly climbing on the bigger’s back when he shifted to walking on four limbs. “Why would I know… You know what, yeah, I think I do.”

“Dude, if you wanted to be a lazy butt and not walk, ride on Aaarrrgghh.” Toby protested, but made sure his gait was smooth when he felt Jim’s arms fall over each shoulder and his chin rest on the dip in his horns. Speaking of… “Thought so: sodalite, not dumortierite. Jimbo, I haven’t seen a mirror yet, so what  _ do  _ my horns look like?”

“Hmm… African Water or Cape Buffalo. Syncerus Caffer.” It was a strange feeling, Jim tracing the base of his horns from front to back, then down the dip that framed his eyes, to the sharp points that curved outward about the height of his cheekbones. “One of the most dangerous creatures on the African continent, where even lions don’t want to mess with them.” Jim pushed down on the sharp point of one horn, making Toby dip his head to the side slightly so that he didn’t hurt the other unintentionally. “Sharp, sickle-shaped points are enough to easily gore or catch someone unaware and toss them across their backs. Only the stupid and ignorant mess with them.” 

Toby just nodded, catching Blinky’s look of fascination and mild horror at the description. It sounded right. If someone tried to pick a fight with Jim or Claire, he would be more than willing to gore the poor soul on his horns. 

“And how would you know so much about this… Buffalo creature. I thought they had rather small horns compared to Tobias’?” Blinky asked, gesturing to the size that he thought buffalo horns were, at least the ones that he had encountered the first time they had crossed the continent that would eventually come to be called North America. 

“You mean Bison?” Jim turned his chin, still resting it on Toby’s head, but still somehow eye level with Blinky. “Buffalo and Bison are two completely different animals, like true yams and sweet potatoes are two wildly different root vegetables. No, Tobes’ horns are still pretty small compared to what they’ll look like if they decide to go the way that real Cape Buffalo do. They’ll probably be about… yay, wide?” He couldn’t see just where Jim’s hands hovered, but he could see how Blinky’s eyes widened.

“Great Grumbly. Definitely not small, then.” He murmured, eyes flicking between Jim’s right and left hand.

“Nope!” Toby couldn’t help but to smirk at the note of pride in Jim’s voice. He would have to remember to ask Jim more about Cape Buffalo later, especially if his horns did decide to grow in that style. 

“Seriously, dude, go ride on Aaarrrgghh or something.” Toby murmured, nearly getting knocked off balance as Jim shifted his weight just a smidge too far to the right.

“No~” Jim whined, settling back down and putting his chin back between his horns… or was it his cheek? He could’ve really feel too much in that area. “I’m tired.”

“And whose fault is that? You’re the one that stayed up for four days straight.”

“To watch over your unconscious ass, you butt.” Came Jim’s immediate rejoiner. Toby rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything further. As long as he didn’t wriggle around too much, it was actually kind of… nice.

Finally getting to the forge, Toby grinned, getting an idea, since Jim hadn’t moved in the past few minutes. Either he was passed out, or zoned out, either way… “Oh, no!” Toby stood straight up, one hand hanging onto Jim’s arms so that he couldn’t fall (or escape). “Gravity! It’s getting… too much! Your fat ass is dragging me down!” And with that, Toby fell straight backwards, on top of Jim, who let out the most gloriously startled squawk.

“Get off of me!” Jim wiggled, but couldn’t quite get free from under Toby’s back until the bigger rolled slightly to one side. Next thing he knew, he was ten feet away and skidding across smooth flooring. 

Blinking in surprise, it took him a moment to figure out just what had happened. “That’s it, boys!” Blinky whooped, “don't be afraid to be a bit rough. You can take a lot more damage than you think.” Aaarrrgghh hummed, a bit more pessimistic, deciding to hover a bit at first. He was hoping to spar wingman first, being able to control his own strength better than the whelps, but it looked like they were doing fine with each other. Or not. Aaarrrgghh winced at the solid throw, landing Toby a hard hit against the wall of the arena, about twenty feet up.

“Alright, that’s it. You asked for it!” Toby growled, shaking off the throw with a snort. crouching down on all four, he lowered his head and charged straight toward Jim. Who in turn widened his stance and jumped at the last moment, using Toby’s horns as leverage, kicking Toby in the back of the head and driving the larger face-first into the stone floor.

It was a move that looked familiar to both full trolls, as it was one that Aaarrrgghh often used during his own sparring. The whelp hadn’t quite gotten it, but only for the fact that Jim often practiced against opponents larger than himself and knew their inherent weaknesses. “Valiant effort, Tobias, don’t be afraid to use your weight as leverage against a smaller opponent, Master Jim can take it!” Blinky yelled out encouragement, glad that they were willing to take this spar at least somewhat seriously. Aaarrrgghh, taking his chance, stepped in and started to grapple with the boy, first by grabbing his horn to turn him around, then grabbing both fists when Toby tried to punch him. “But there will always be bigger trolls out there than you!” Blinky added in, watching the two roll on the ground as Jim stepped back. Getting bulldozed by two bull-trolls grappling only happened once, if he had anything to say about it.

Crouching down, Jim watched the two closely, waiting for his opportunity to jump back in. Eventually, they broke the grapple and Jim jumped in with a yell, landing on Toby’s back. Ineffective as anything more than a distraction tactic, but he wasn’t really looking for a real fight at that point. He knew just what Aaarrrgghh could do, and the light grappling was nothing in comparison to his real strength. “Ah, Jim!” Toby bucked and squealed, Jim’s fingers finding his ticklish points. “That’s not fair!” 

“Who said I was going for fair?” Jim rejoined, poking a particularly sensitive spot on Toby’s knee before backing away from a clumsy swipe. 

“Mind If I cut in, boys?” Claire called out, drawing the trolls attention.

Toby, who had trapped Jim in a bearhug, looked up and grinned. “Lookin’ good there, Nuñez!” 

“Thanks TP.” Claire smirked, posing with her weapon. It looked like a parlok spear, but the bladecatcher tongs were too thin and long to be effective. Her sparring outfit was purple leather with a diaphanous black material underneath, accenting her every move. It wasn’t even that revealing: a side-laced vest and leather plated skirt with the front panel reaching down to her knees, while the others ended around mid-thigh. Under the leather skirt, a lightweight black gauze fell in wide panels nearly to the floor, split so so that they wouldn’t hinder her movement. On the belt/cincher was indeed a set of runes that, given the conversation in the tannery earlier, was meant for protection, among other things.

“Never thought you’d be one for leather and lace.” Toby laughed, looking down at Jim, whose jaw hung open in a gobsmacked expression. “Jim dot extension has stopped working though.”

“Yeah, that’s normal.” Claire giggled, walking closer with an intentional sway to her hips and crouching close to the boys heads with her knees together modestly. “Jim. You’re going to catch flies that way.” She spoke teasingly, using the tip of her spear to close his mouth. 

Up close, Toby spotted something that her leggings had covered earlier, but was exposed with this new outfit. “You have a tattoo!” he squeaked, not sure whether to be impressed or what.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah.” Claire grinned and stuck out her leg to show the Skathe-Hrün running up the side of her calf. “Jim drew it for me and I took it to one of the local tattoo shops for my eighteenth. Don’t tell Papa, he’d have a fit.” 

Laughing, Toby finally sat up, not bothering to let go of Jim, who was still acting like the 15-year-old he was before asking Claire out. “Snitches get stitches, Claire-bear.” Toby reminded her, “Make Jim tell him, since it’s his art.”

Blinking out of his staring, Jim gave Toby a look and a punch for the joke. “Dude, you know they still don’t like me.”

“And they never will at this point. You took their baby girl across country with a whole group of homeless trolls and not a drop of soap between them.” 

Claire shrugged, but agreed nonetheless. “Its like they thought I’d help you get here, then come back home, or something. Now come on,” Claire stood up and twirled her staff, a low humming and snapping noise coming from it, “are you going to let me spar with you or not?”

“Uh…” Toby looked between Claire, Jim and their trainers. Claire, Jim and Blinky had an almost expectant expression on their faces, while Aaarrrgghh was reflecting his own worry. 

“Fair Claire can handle her weapon beautifully, Tobias. I dare say, you’re in for a  _ shocking _ revelation sparring with her.” That was...  _ not _ reassuring, in the least. That, and the fact that Jim was slowly backing away from them both, posed to dodge in whatever direction he needed to jump, with a giant grin on his face.

“Five pages, Blink, Tobes  _ doesn’t  _ get flattened.” Jim looked at his mentor, wanting something a bit more interesting.

“As honorable it is to have such faith in Young Tobias… twenty. Due tomorrow.” Jim winced, but reluctantly nodded in agreement. 

“Tobes! Don’t get hit by the staff!” 

“What? Why, it’s just a sta-” Claire took a solid swing and with a pop and a flash, Toby was flung into the far wall, stuck a few seconds, and then peeled off when gravity reasserted itself on the now-unconscious half-troll.

Hissing with a sympathetic wince, everyone flinched before Jim walked over and carefully prodded him with a toe. “Twenty pages.” 

“Due tomorrow, Master Jim. You should probably get started as soon as possible.” Blinky gloated but still followed the younger over as he sat down next to Toby. 

“Yeah, I will.”

* * *

He didn’t know what happened, or whether he was even conscious or not. There was a ringing in his ears and white starbursts behind his eyes. “Ugh,” Toby moaned, slowly rolling onto his front and burying his head in his arms, trying to rub the snow from his eyes. “What… hit me this time.”

“Sorry about that, TP. I overcharged my staff.”

“ _ Just a bit.”  _ It sounded like Jim who muttered, and Toby had to agree with the assessment. He didn’t know what hurt worse: his back, which he suspected had made friends with the wall once again, the side where he somewhat remembered getting hit by claire’s staff… or his pride. 

“What did you  _ do? _ ” He mumbled, gathering his will to sit up, feeling a large hand supporting him when he listed to one side.

“Electrical shock. I have an affinity for it, apparently. I charged my staff up as much as I do, dealing with the more stubborn trolls that are around your size. I guess you’re more human that way, since that’s usually a light sting for full trolls.” Toby grunted, nodding. He remembered that Aaarrrgghh had grappled with that energy-being alien that summer two years ago, and then there was the time that Jim used a lightning bolt to kill the stalkling and had to catch the still-twitching teen after. 

“Hey, Tobes, don’t feel too bad. First time, Claire actually sent me  _ through _ one of the pillars.” Jim pointed over his shoulder, where there was indeed some evidence of a pillar that was now the ragged remains of an overhang. “And she only knocked you out for ten minutes. You can keep me entertained tonight while I work on doing those twenty pages of translation for Blinky, just in case you have a concussion.”

“Yeah…” Toby knocked his fist against his horn base/forehead, getting a satisfactory ‘tok’ out of it. “Not too worried about a concussion there, Jimbo. 

Either way, they decided to call it for the night, with Toby a little unsteady on his feet after that knock into the wall, and Jim’s sudden increase in ‘homework.’ “So…” Toby walked pressed between Aaarrrgghh and Jim, totally not because he had stumbled because he  _ didn’t  _ have a concussion. “Why are you translating, and  _ what  _ are you translating, for Blinky?” 

“So…” Jim winced, not really wanting to admit it out loud. “Apparently my written comprehension for Trollish to English and back sucks. Using the amulet is apparently cheating, and sometimes gets things royally wrong, So I have to alternate between a book of my choosing and Blinky’s choice and translate it into either Trollish or English, depending. Right now it's my turn.” 

“What are you translating, then?”

Jim winced, having realized his mistake once it was too late to turn back and pick a simpler book. “The Hobbit.” 

“Ooh,” Toby winced in sympathy. “Rest in Pieces, dude. What are you doing about the Elvish and Dwarfish passages?” 

“Leave them alone, for the most part, but I try to translate the basic idea of the language when I’m going through everything.” Toby nodded in agreement. Tolkien was a master of languages, and something like that you just left the hell alone. 

“And I can’t wait to read the next chapter, Master Jim. Troll writers just don’t have much of a concept of fiction, regrettably enough. It’s refreshing to read something that hasn’t been written down for the past millennia.” Blinky gave a contemplative hum and looked at Toby. “It would not be remiss if you were to share this assignment as well, Tobias. You and Master Jim are about the same place with your Trollish, you might be able to help each other.”

“Yeah, but I’d pick a way easier book.” 

“Like what?”

Toby shrugged. “Maybe ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’ or something by Rhode Dahl.” 

Jim tilted his head, then nodded, glancing at Aaarrrgghh and Blinky. “I would do The BFG and Matilda if you do Dahl’s works.”

“Oh, my god, yes!” Clair flapped her hand in excitement. “Those would be absolutely  _ perfect  _ to do!” 

“I’m not quite sure who this ‘Dahl’ person is, but you seem enthusiastic about them.”

“You don’t? That’s even better.” Toby grinned, pointing at Blinky’s face. “That means that you won’t be allowed to read the english version until I’m done with it!” Blinking asynchronously, he nodded, amused. 

“I’ll pick up the books the next time I’m at the bookstore.” Claire volunteered. “I’ll even pick up something for myself to do. Maybe some Shakespeare.”

“Only if you can maintain the iambic pentameter.” Jim grinned, teasing. 

“Of course, what kind of person do you take me for?” Claire teased back, one hand fluttering in front of her chest dramatically.

Looking around, Jim realized that they were right in front of his cave and swung around, placing both hands on Toby’s chest, forcing him to stop. “Wait right here for a minute, Tobes, I need to grab something really quick.” Blinking in confusion, but nodding anyway, Toby stopped right where he was and watched Jim duck into his den. Weren’t they going in there anyway, so why did he have to wait outside?

“Oh! The thing.” It took a moment, but Claire’s eyes widened and she grinned.

“The thing?” Toby was even more confused now.

“Yeah. The thing that Jim’s been working on for ever now. He kept remaking it so many times, and I don’t even know what it is, just that it was for you.”

“Ah, yes. That thing.” Blinky caught on, nodding sagely. “The perfect stone is hard to come by, when you are not quite sure yourself what you want. I believe Master Jim ended up eating many of his partially finished ones in frustration.” Aaarrrgghh hummed in amusement, understanding the feeling, if not what exactly Blinky and Claire were talking about.

“Here it is!” Jim came out holding a small white-wrapped box with a blue ribbon tied in an intricate bow. “Welcome home, Tobes.” 

Quirking his brow, Toby murmured that Jim didn’t need to get him anything, but took the present anyway and carefully picked apart the bow, lifting the lid. “Oh…” He breathed, sinking down to his knees, then to a sitting kneel, “It’s beautiful.” Sitting there, nestled in a pile of loose cotton, was a rectangular piece of jade with delicate carving on the front and two drill holes, one on top and bottom. Careful of his new strength, He picked it up, seeing that there was an old, tiny scroll tucked into the back. 

“I hope you don’t mind, but I had mom send me Nana’s so I could transfer the scroll. I’m sure, if you want, you can contact either your rabbi or one of the local rabbis to make a new one.” Jim was quiet, standing at a respectful distance, only mildly fidgeting with nerves. 

“No, this is perfect.” Toby carefully settled it back in the box. “Can we put it up?”

“Uh, yeah.” Jim nodded shyly. “I actually drilled the holes already. And there’s a couple nails under the cotton batting. Nana had it hanging diagonally, is that correct?”

“Yeah. That’s right.” Nodding, Jim led Toby over to the entrance to his cave, where there were indeed two tiny but deep holes close to the edge on the right side. “Are they lined up?” Toby asked, one brow raised and a quirk to his lips.

“Yeah. I made sure it fits.”

“Did you slam your finger with the hammer again.”

“...Yes.” Laughing, Toby grabbed Jim’s right hand and gave the fingertips a kiss. 

“One of these days, we’re gonna get you a left-handed hammer. Either that, or risk you completely slamming your fingers trying to do it right handed.”

“I thought you were right handed.” Claire stated.

“...Technically no?” Jim’s blush increased, though he shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m right-leaning ambidextrous, but there are things I do better left-handed.”

“Like using hand tools.” Jim tilted his head in Toby’s direction in acknowledgement. “Now, let’s do this!” Toby pulled out the piece of Jade, then dug out the pair of nails, handing them over for Jim to hold. Gently enclosing the Jade in his hand, Toby bent his head down in prayer, and Jim joined him, putting his empty hand on Toby’s shoulder and putting his forehead against it. “Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha-olam…” He spoke the short prayer, Jim repeating him half a beat later, then in english for the others. “Blessed are You, Lord our G*d, Ruler of the universe…” (Sorry, I will not put the whole prayer, for my own reasons. You will be able to find it anywhere you can find instructions. It really is a short one though…) Then, Toby took the first offered nail and used his finger to tap in the top nail, using it to support the talisman as he tapped in the second. 

“So... “ Claire broke the spell by speaking up, “What  _ is _ that thing, anyway? Jim never really answered whenever I asked him.” Toby and Jim shared a look, Jim stepping back and forcing Toby to be the one to answer. 

“It’s called a Mezuzah. Basically, it’s tradition, and a way to announce that someone following Jewish tradition lives here.” Toby shrugged, not quite sure how to describe it. “The Mezuzah itself isn’t really that important, and can be practically anything, as long as it protects the klaf, the prayer scroll. It's a guardian of the home, or a good luck symbol, that we touch or otherwise acknowledge each time we go through the door.”

“Didn’t you tell me about that someone used a pez dispenser?” Jim smiled, absently touched the Mezuzah after touching his lips, muttering something under his breath. 

“Or a test tube with a cork.” Toby shrugged, repeating the same action that Jim just did, before leaning against the doorway next to it. “So… why jade?”

“Good luck. I heard somewhere that jade breaks instead of the wearer getting hurt.” Looking at the tiny totem that was practically dwarfed by the doorway and easy to miss, Jim felt something settle in his chest. He hadn’t realized, not being Jewish himself, how much the small ritual of kissing the Mezuzah every time he entered Nana’s house had meant something to him. That little thing was just filled with warm memories already.

Toby tilted his head in thought, then nodded. “I guess that too. Fidelity and home life, Healing, dreams. Protection is a big quality. It lends strength to whatever is needed. It’s a good choice. And it looks pretty.” 

Jim gave a gentle smile. “Thanks.”

“Wait, back up. You’re Jewish?”

Toby furrowed his brows and crossed his arms. “Is… that a problem?” He asked cautiously, ready to defend his heritage and hoping that this wasn’t the one thing that tore them apart.

“What? No!” Claire backed off, seeing Toby’s defensive posture. “It’s just that, you ordered extra cheese on your cheesesteak. Isn’t that, I don’t know, illegal, or something?” 

Toby blinked, confused ‘Illegal?’ He mouthed, and Jim burst out laughing. “Let the man live his life, Claire.” Both grinned at each other and Toby shook his head fondly.

“Technically, yes, I guess. Having dairy and meat in the same dish isn’t kosher, sure, but I figured if I was gonna try something, might as well have it like its supposed to be made.” Toby leaned in, like he was telling a secret. “Just don’t tell Nana and we’ll be good.” 

“What is a ‘Jewish’, if I may ask?” Blinky spoke up, fascinated by this turn of events and inspecting the Mezuzah closely. He had actually seen a similar thing on the doorways of Tobias’ house, now that he thought about it. “And would you be one as well, Master Jim.”

“No. I’m… Atheist. A goyim that just tags along each week.” Jim’s eyes fell flat and he closed off.

“Ah, Jimbo, don’t be like that. You know I hate you using those words.” Toby sighed, turning to answer Blinky. “Judaism is a religion, like Christianity or Muslim, believing in a single supreme being. And Jimbo here has been going to temple with me since we were both kids, it's just that Jim practices his own beliefs as well. And Goyim is…” Toby sighed, but answered before Blinky had the chance to ask, “basically a borderline rude way to say non-Jew.”

“Gentile.” Aaarrrgghh spoke up, having been given a basic introduction by Nana at one point when she had discovered that Aaarrrgghh had actually been living under her roof for quite a while at that point.

“Yeah,” Toby nodded. “That’s a better word for it. If you want, Aaarrrgghh can tell you what he saw at the temple, since Nana brought him along a couple of times. Or, you can come join me for Shabbat on Fridays.”

“That would be lovely, Tobias. I will look forward to seeing you ‘Shabbat’ tomorrow then.”

“Oh, shit, today’s Thursday?” 

“And yesterday was the moon.” Jim shrugged. “We were busy, so it’s not a big deal.”

“And you didn’t go out.” Toby squeezed Jim’s hands. “I am so, so sorry.”

Jim shrugged, slipping his hands out. “Like I said, we were busy and I didn’t want you alone when you could wake up at any time.” He retreated into his cave, starting to putter around his kitchen so that he didn’t have to be part of the conversation any longer.

“Still.” Toby followed, noting an alcove with a series of candles and what looked like some rough stone statuettes, and sighed in relief. “You have a right to ‘you time’, Jimbo.”

Pulling out a match, he pointedly lit the largest white candle and a small incense cone. “I do, and I would have taken ‘me time’ when I next had the chance to. The moon date is flexible for a reason.” Using the pillar candle, he lit a smaller red candle off to the side and refilled a small bowl of water. “See. Me time.”

Studying the alcove, Claire’s brows furrowed while she thought. “That’s, oh.” Then it clicked. “Oh! I thought that was a memorial, that’s why I didn’t ask!” She held her hands over her mouth, coming closer to study it more thoroughly while Jim stood stiff off to the side.

“...It can be, sometimes.” He eventually relented, making a mental note that he would have to scrub the soot from the wall again. “Most of the time it’s not, though.” He had forgotten the incense was sandalwood. Appropriate. Sandalwood was meant for making you feel safe and secure. 

“So, you’re…”

“You’re Catholic, right?” Jim cut Claire off, getting a confused nod in response. “Then while I’m Goyim to Toby, I would be just as Pagan to you.”

“Jim, that’s…” Toby sighed, rubbing his face. “You’re being cranky. Go get some more sleep.” Jim pouted, but nodded anyway, tugging on Toby’s hand toward the bedroom. “Yeah, we’ll join you in a minute. Let me just explain some things, then you can say more when you’re a bit more level-headed.” Not feeling the need to hide anything, Toby wrapped Jim in a hug, cradling his head with one hand and said the bedtime prayer usually reserved for children. It was a comfort that they both needed and a callback to the days where Jim would spend the night at the Domzalski house when Barbara worked late. 

Releasing a deep sigh, Jim nodded and snuggled for a few moments before retreating into the den. 

Taking a few minutes to let Jim settle in the next room, Toby stared at the candles burning on their alter. “Sorry if Jim seemed rude about that. You find one dead cat on your front porch and then you don’t really want to talk about it anymore.” Toby started lowly, making sure his voice didn’t carry into the next room. “Its something Jim used to be really proud of, since it was something between him and Dr. L, and then one of the kids in elementary school got this  _ brilliant _ idea from one of those really bad Halloween movies and started calling him a witch. And then someone killed one of Nana’s cats and left it on their front door.”

“Oh, no!” Claire gasped, “Are you sure it wasn’t one of the goblins or…” her eyes dashed over to the two trolls in the room, “anyone else.”

“No troll, changeling or goblin I know of would bother to paint ‘die witch’ in blood next to it, do you?” Toby stated dryly, still angry after nearly a decade. “And Jimbo was the one to find it and cleaned it all up before Dr. L could see. I don’t think he ever told her about the first time.”

“The  _ first  _ time? Just how many…?” 

Toby shrugged. “Cats, chickens, a bat or two. Someone even got ahold of an entire bucket of blood one time and splashed it all over the house. Jim didn’t get that one completely cleaned up in time and Dr. L found out and reported it to the police. It stopped after a while though, but I don’t know if whoever was doing it got arrested or just bored.”

“Did you ever find out who was doing it?” 

He shook his head. “We had a couple of suspicions, but nothing solid. Jim didn’t want to say anything, especially since Barbara had just started her residency and he didn’t want to bring down any more stress than he had to. It didn’t hurt anyone, but it was annoying.

“There were no physical injuries to Jim or Dr. Barbara’s person, no, but that does not mean that there were no injuries acquired.” Blinky butted in, his eyes wide in shock and understanding, and glowing with anger. Aaarrrgghh’s carvings were pulsing mildly as well. “I would take it as this being such a reason as Master Jim attempting to keep Barbara out of Trollmarket as well?”

“Yeah. I always thought so, at least.” Realizing that the incense had burned itself out, Toby went over and paid respects to the alter before pinching out the two candles. “I know for a fact though, that it made Jim come to the temple with Nana and I a lot more frequently, and even attempted to go to church a few times, just to make it look like he was ‘normal’.” 

“I see.” Blinky’s lips were thinned, but he understood, and now saw certain traits of their little Trollhunter coming into a clearer light. “Now, you both had best join Master Jim in the nest. Things always seem a bit better come morning. And then we can all sit down and share with each other. I’m afraid human religion is something that I have not had much opportunity to study in the past, beyond a wonderful copy of, oh, what was it called again? Street James Bible, I believe. Such interesting stories, but I’m afraid I was out of my depth understanding their relevance.” 

Claire choked on air and Toby nodded solemnly. “Aren’t we all.” Getting a hug from Aaarrrgghh and a pat on the head from Blinky, Toby led Claire (who had snatched her laptop to do a few more hours work, since she was still well-rested compared to the boys) into the nest and wrapped around the Jim-sized ball in the middle. Toby didn’t know if he was awake or not, but it didn’t matter as he stroked Jim’s mane and talked of light things with Claire. Eventually, the boys fell asleep to the clacking of her keys.

**Author's Note:**

> Jim, you're cranky, go back to bed. 3 hours sleep after staying awake for four days straight do not good decisions make. 
> 
> The last section was pulled from my personal experience, living in a jewish household for a few months (my Aunt and her family, then my cousin and his family) while being catholic-raised pagan. Good times, y'all. All jewish information is from things I observed while living in those households. (I'm lucky that nobody has taken offense at my paganism, just everything else about me, so that part is a bit of an exaggeration on my part) I firmly believe that mixed-religion households can learn and thrive together.


End file.
